Lassie's New Friend
by PsychUOut
Summary: When a frightened little girl is the only witness to a murder, the team does their best to get her to talk. But when she is kidnapped, Lassiter gets pulled along for the ride.
1. Chapter 1:Never Saw It Coming

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

This story probably takes place somewhere around season 3, but there are no spoiler warnings for anything before that.

Hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 1: Never Saw it Coming**

Head Detective Carlton Lassiter didn't get his title by being soft. He had devoted many tireless hours to build his reputation as the strongest, toughest, and some may even say ruthless of all the officers at the Santa Barbara Police Department, and that is exactly how he wanted it.

It is also the reason for the gossip that Lassiter's partner, Junior Detective Juliet O'Hara, was overhearing on her way in to the department. '_Detective Lassiter doesn't have a heart,' Detective Lassiter wasn't born with any emotion', _and Juliet's personal favorite '_Detective Lassiter is actually a new wave of unfeeling, emotionless crime fighting, robo-humanoid, sent to take over all police duties' _(Juliet was pretty sure she knew exactly who was responsible for starting such an extravagant rumor). It was nothing that Juliet had never heard before, but the rumors did not set well with her. Which is why, once she arrived at Lassiter's desk, she had to ask her partner, "Doesn't it bother you?"

"What?" Lassiter asked with a slight hint of irritation at being interrupted from his paperwork.

"You Know, the rumors about being heartless, ruthless, and stuff."

"No….. should it?"

"Well, yeah" Carlton's indifference to it all worried Juliet. "I mean I know there is more to you than you let on, Carlton. Like maybe a caring, gentle side, and I think that maybe you might get along better with the other officers if you were to show that side a little." She said with a smile.

Once Lassiter fixed Juliet with one of his well known glares she knew that she may have hit a nerve. "For your information O'Hara, I did not get to where I am today by being all _lovey-dovey _or by caring what others think of me."

"Carlton, I was just-"

"And for that matter, I resent being told how to do my job! I don't-"

"Detectives! My office, now." Juliet let out a sigh of relief, Chief Karen Vick had saved her from further scolding.

On his way to the Chief's office Lassiter couldn't help but be bothered by O'Hara's questions. '_Why should I care that everyone thinks I'm some kind of coldhearted tyrant….. I'm actually quite proud of that' _So why couldn't he stop thinking about it. _'Stop it! I've got better things to think about' _Like the fact that the Chief was talking to him right now, "Anything new on the Fuller murder case?"

"No Chief we haven't found anything." The detective mumbled sulking into the chair in front of the Chief's desk. As much as Lassiter hated admitting that they had hit a dead end that is exactly what had happened. The case had seemed simple enough in the beginning, a burglary turned murder should have been an open and shut case. The Fullers had both been at work when their house had been broken into. And when Mr. Fuller had mistakenly come home earlier than expected he was met with three criminals plundering his home. Most likely in a panic the burglars attacked and stabbed Mr. Fuller, killing him in his own home.

Lassiter had high hopes on solving the case quickly. The Fullers were well off, with a large house and many valuable items, making them an obvious target for a burglary. But the scene of the crime turned up no fingerprints or evidence to the attackers identities. Even the department "psychic" could not "divine" anything helpful (secretly to Lassiter's joy). The thieves were smart and, excluding Mr. Fuller's surprise return, had planned everything to the last detail. Leaving the detectives at a dead end.

"Well I have news that might just change that" Vick stated with enthusiasm. That snapped Lassiter from his thoughts quickly. He had been hoping for days for something that might turn things around.

"Really?" Lassiter shot out of his chair in anticipation of what would change things for them. "Well, what is it?" The detective would have gotten his answer just then had it not been for the entrance of the constant nuisance in his life, Shawn Spencer.

"Chief! Jules! Lassie! Fancy meeting the three of you here." Shawn shouted as he burst through the doors of the Chiefs office. "And what brings you to this fine establishment?" Shawn was followed in by his business partner Burton "Gus" Guster, who at least had the sense to look nervous at interrupting the closed meeting. Ever since Spencer had opened his Psychic Detective agency he had been a thorn in Lassiter's side, and today was no different.

"Shawn we work here." Juliet answered. Her attempts at hiding her smile were failing. Lassiter's partner always seemed to have a soft spot for the fake psychic, and Carlton would never understand why. "What are you doing here?"

Almost instinctively Shawn's fingers went to his temple in his classic "I'm having a vision" pose, "I was psychically led here by the spirits of the beyoooond."

"You were not!" Gus chimed in. "We came here because you were bored and couldn't sit still."

"Exactly, that's what I said; the spirits of _boredom _led me here knowing that something exciting would be happening." Gus rolled his eyes. "And I'm right the aura in this room just screams excit-"

"Enough!" Carlton's frustration had quickly reached its breaking point. "You two. Out. Now."

"mmmmm… No that's ok. I'm fine right here." Shawn stated flopping down into the chair Lassiter had just been sitting in. The angry detective quickly grabbed hold of the smarmy psychics shirt collar yanking him back up and towards the door.

"You are not needed, nor wanted here, so I will kindly ask you to-"

"Actually detective" Vick interrupted "I would like Mr. Spencer to be here for this, he is still hired on this case."Lassiter clenched his jaw and forced himself to remove his death grip from Shawn's shirt. All the while trying to avoid the arrogant grin Shawn was shooting his way. "I was just telling Detective Lassiter and O'Hara that we may have a break in our case."

"Ah, see I knew I was needed here." Shawn added, Lassiter just rolled his eyes.

"We have finally been given permission to talk to the girl that was with the Fuller's at the time of the murder." This was perfect; it was exactly what they needed. The girl was an 8 year old foster child that the Fuller's were hoping to adopt. The break in occurred she was supposed to stay with them for a trial run to see if the adoption would work, which was also the reason that Mr. Fuller came home early that day. He had left work and went to pick her up from the foster home ahead of schedule. Once they got home he brought Riley to the kitchen to offer her cookies Mrs. Fuller had made for her that morning. When Mr. Fuller heard a noise he went to investigate and the little girl followed after but stopped short when she heard unfamiliar voices. Out of panic she hid but inevitably witnessed the whole murder.

The police hadn't been able to talk to her because of her sensitive mental state. The girl had been in and out of several different homes and she was already extremely introverted and afraid to trust anyone. And since the murder she only retreated further into her shell, only saying a few words since the event. Her therapist was opposed to any police questioning after the traumatic event, not wanting to harm her anymore.

"Her foster care worker will be bringing her in tomorrow, her name is Riley." Vick added, "And I don't think I need to mention that this will be done very delicately."

"This is great news Chief!" Lassiter was excited at the chance to finally move things along. "and I promise you when I talk to her I will be at my nicest."

"Yeah Lassie, probably not the best idea, you're not exactly known as Mr. Sensitivity around here." Spencer said with a smirk. "But, c'mon the kids love me!" Shawn did his best to ignore the snort coming from Gus' side of the room. "I think that if anyone should talk to her it should be me, even if she doesn't physically say any words I am sure I can _divine _something from her."

"Oh yeah that's exactly what she needs, you flailing around in front of her with some "psychic vision"." Lassiter scoffed "If witnessing murder didn't put her into shock I'm sure that will."

"I'll have you know that my visions are a work of art and-"

"Neither of you will be talking to her!" Vick interrupted, her exasperation showing through. "O'Hara will be the one to question her."

"What? Chief I am head detective and lead on this case." It wasn't that he didn't trust his partner, Juliet had proven herself to be an exceptional cop, but Lassiter did not like to be excluded.

"Yes you are detective, but what you are not is a woman. A frightened little girl will be more likely to open up to a female officer than a male. And besides Mr. Spencer is right, your not exactly good at….. delicate. I'm sorry but that's final. You're all dismissed."

The next day Shawn Spencer couldn't hide his excitement as he bound up the stairs and entered the police station. "C'mon Gus! Hurry it up let's go!" The pseudopsychic's lagging friend had already voiced his concerns back at the Psych office. He had said something about the girl's psychological state, and O'Hara needing to form a bond without their presence, and some other psychobabble, boring stuff. Shawn hadn't really been listening. He was too excited about solving the case. Shawn loved a good mystery and he loved to be the one to bring all of the pieces of the puzzle together. The thrill of it all was just too much to pass up (and getting to rub it in a certain head detective's face was an added bonus). The little foster girl was the missing piece that he needed to see the whole picture, to solve the case, to get the glory. There was no way that he was going to miss this.

"You know I don't think we should be here Shawn." Gus said as he caught up to his overly excited friend in the station's bullpen.

"Oh come on Gus, we have to protect this poor little girl from Lassiter's over eagerness to solve the case." It was only a half lie; Shawn just couldn't let Lassie get the needed information before he did. "And I didn't get the chance to tease the good detective about the Chief agreeing with me." Shawn couldn't help but smile every time he thought about the look on Lassie's face when Vick told that Shawn was right about his inability to be delicate. It was a look of shock and disgust that quickly turned to anger as he stormed out of the office. Shawn enjoyed getting under the detective's skin almost as much as he enjoyed solving cases, it was like the icing on his crime solving cake.

But without the lanky detective in sight Shawn and Gus made their way over to O'Hara at her desk. "Good morning Jules! You look bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning…. That's kind of a strange expression... what does that even mean?"

"I think you just compared her to a squirrel." Gus added. Juliet's face scrunched up into a questioning glare as she tried to stifle a laugh.

"Oh! Jules I'm sorry you don't look like a squirrel, I swear."

"Shawn," Juliet had to interrupt, she knew given the chance Shawn would keep going. "Did you need something?"

"Who? Me? No! …no , cant I just come and say hi"

"We were hoping to sit in on your talk with Riley." Gus said blatantly

"Gus!" Shawn objected

"Shawn that _is _why we're here."

"Well yeah but it takes a certain nuance to make a request like that and you completely failed it."

Gus ignored Shawn "So what do you think Juliet?"

"I'm sorry but no." Juliet sighed. She had already been through this same conversation with her partner. "Chief Vick made it very clear that I am to be the only one in the room with Riley and her case worker."

As if on cue Officer Buzz McNabb arrived at Juliet's desk followed by a large middle aged woman holding the hand of a young girl."

"Detective O'Hara this is Riley and her foster care worker Mrs. Lindsey Carter." Buzz explained. While Juliet and Mrs. Carter talked Shawn took note of the little girl that would bring the break in their case. She was skinny and kind of tall for her age. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into loose pigtails, and her big brown eyes were constantly shifting and avoiding eye contact with anyone that looked in her direction. She hung her head low and stood almost impossibly still. She clung to her chest what appeared at one time to have been a teddy bear, but now looked more like a stuffed rag in the general shape of a bear. It had obviously been worn down from overuse, but Shawn could tell she wouldn't be giving it up anytime soon.

"Right this way Mrs. Carter." Juliet said leading the two over to the conference room to talk in a private setting. Shawn followed after in hopes of slipping in unnoticed but was stopped by a firm tug to his arm.

"I don't think so Spencer." Lassiter growled as he pulled Shawn back to the desk. "If I can't be in there, there is no way that I am going to allow you to interrupt."

"So you're saying that I can only interrupt if your present, that's awfully selfish don't you think Lassie?" the door clicked shut behind Juliet and with Lassie watching him, all hope of hearing the conversation was lost.

Juliet was a bit nervous as she took a seat across from the young girl and her case worker. Mrs. Carter had already warned her that Riley hardly even said more than a few words to her, the likelihood of her speaking to a perfect stranger was almost nonexistent. But Juliet just had to try.

"Hi there my name is Juliet, what is your name?" Riley looked absolutely terrified, she wouldn't even look up from the table. Juliet didn't receive any response. "you can talk to me sweetheart, it's ok your safe here."

"….."

"Do you want to tell me your name?"

"…..'

"how old are you?"

"….."

"I see you have a teddy bear, what's his name?"

Riley's only response was to hug the bear closer to her. This went on for another twenty minutes. When she couldn't get through to the little girl Juliet even resorted to asking simple questions about the case, but nothing got a word out of the girl. Juliet let out a sigh of frustration, she wasn't getting anywhere. "Riley I would like to talk to you again tomorrow, would that be ok?" Still nothing. She was hoping that tomorrow Riley would see that she wasn't in any danger and maybe open up a little. It was a long shot but it was something.

Juliet got up and opened the door for the two, thanking Mrs. Carter for her time. However, much to Juliet's irritation, they were met by an over excitable Shawn Spencer. "Hello my name is Shawn Spencer head psychic detective for the SBPD." Shawn directed his attention to the little girl who was surprised by his sudden presence. "Now I heard there was a young lady here that is going to help the fine police officers of Santa Barbara." Shawn crouched down to address her further when he was unceremoniously yanked back to his feet.

"Spencer, what did I say!" Juliet was thankful for her partners sudden appearance. She knew that Shawn meant well but was afraid that his natural overactive demeanor would startle the already intimidated child.

"Laaaasssiiiiie" Shawn whined "I was just talking to her."

"Which is exactly what I told you not to do." As Lassie and Shawn continued to argue Juliet looked down at Riley afraid that they were upsetting her, but she was surprised by what she saw. For the first time since she had arrived at the department Riley was no longer staring down at the floor, she was actually watching Shawn and Carlton with wide eyes. Juliet had no idea what, but something had caught the young girl's attention.

"Detective O'Hara are we free to go?" Mrs. Carter interrupted Juliet's thoughts.

"Oh…. Yes, sorry. McNabb would you please see Mrs. Carter and Riley out." Riley's eyes were still on Carlton and Shawn as they walked from the police station.

As soon as Riley had left Carlton released Shawn from his watch and turned his attention on his partner. "So how did it go? What did she say?" O'Hara knew the question was coming but she didn't know what to say, how could she tell her partner that she couldn't get a word out of Riley and they weren't any closer to solving their case.

The following day Lassiter approached Chief Vick's office to once again make a request to talk to the girl himself. He knew that O'Hara was doing her best she was a good cop and he trusted her, but he just had to get back in the case, back in control. If there was one thing Lassiter liked it was to be in control. But all of Carlton's plans were stopped short by one knowing, icy glare from the chief. Lassiter didn't even make it through the doors of the office before the death glare turned him on his heel in retreat. The only high point was watching the department psuedopsychic resigned to the same fate. Lassiter watched as Spencer gallivanted across the bullpen and into the Chiefs office only to return milliseconds later.

Lassiter, Spencer, and Guster all waited, not so patiently, outside of the conference room as Juliet tried once more to get the young girl to talk. But when O'Hara emerged from the room the look on her face told them that today hadn't gone any better. Carlton let out a sigh, the girl had been their big break but without her talking they were back to square one.

Lassiter stood back watching as the Chief and O'Hara thanked Mrs. Carter and asked her to let them know if anything changed. His eyes drifted down to Riley who looked more frantic than usual. Her eyes were darting around looking for something but her feet remained planted to the ground, afraid to leave her guardians side. The detective watched as her eyes caught sight of what she had been searching for. Several feet away lay her raggedy old bear, dropped on her way out of the conference room. But despite finding her lost treasure, the frightened girl did not move. Instead, her eyes met Carlton's pleading with him for help.

Everyone was too busy to notice Riley's silent cries for help. Even Shawn and Gus were engrossed in some ridiculous argument over whether Doritos or Combos were the better snack food. After a brief inner argument Lassiter walked over and picked up the stuffed bear. Riley's eyes followed him and continued to study him as he brought the bear over, crouched down, and held it out to her.

Riley's fear and hesitation showed in her big brown eyes but when Carlton's sharp blue gaze met hers he could see some of it disappear. Riley lifted up a hand and took the bear bringing it close to her chest in a tight hug, "Thank you Mr. Lassie." The words came out so quietly the detective wasn't even sure if she had spoken.

As Riley and her case worker walked away Lassiter stood back up, he could feel everyone's eyes on him. They were the first words out of the girl's mouth that any of them had heard. The silence was broken by a loud giggle from Shawn, "she called you Mr. Lassie…. isn't that cuuuute." Lassiter glared at Shawn as he returned to his desk. '_Crap!' _He hadn't realized that the girl had picked up Spencer's annoying nickname for him. He slumped down at his desk '_This day keeps getting better and better'. _

Juliet inched up to her partner's desk, her obvious nervousness radiating off of her. "Listen, Carlton, I'm sorry I couldn't-"

"Save it O'Hara, you did your best, we just have to come up with something new. I know there is something else that will help us find these guys."

"Lassifrass is right Jules" Spencer added with a comforting smile, "we'll close this case yet."

"… right…..Right! thank you, both of you." Juliet let a small smile come to her face before she quickly replaced it with a look of determination. "how about we go back to the crime scene, there has to be something there that we missed."

"Good, let's go!" Lassiter stood up to grab his coat when a very frantic Mrs. Carter came running up to the group.

"Detectives! Detectives! Please help!" Mrs. Carter came to a stop in front of them trying to catch her breath.

Juliet was immediately at her side worry covering her face. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"It's Riley…." The foster care worker took a deep breath, tears starting to come to her eyes. "I was putting her into the car and…. And I turned around for just a second, I swear!" she was forced to stop to let out a few sobs.

Juliet held onto the panicked woman's hand, "It's ok Mrs. Carter just tell us what happened."

She took a deep breath to control her sobs and continued "A man asked me for directions so I stepped over to help him and when I turned back to the car she was gone!" the woman couldn't continue any longer she broke down and cried uncontrollably.

But Lassiter didn't need any more, he immediately jumped into action. "Mcnabb, Parsons, Miller! With me now!" Juliet had managed to get the location of the car out of the distraught woman before the two detectives quickly led the three officers to the parking lot, with psychic detective and pharmaceutical salesman in tow. The head detective couldn't stop asking himself why he hadn't made sure that the girl was safe. They had assumed that the burglars didn't know about her, but he must have been wrong. He knew that she could not have run off on her own she was just too scared. And now because of his mistake she could be in danger.

Once they got to the car Lassiter ordered everyone to split up and search in every direction. He even, albeit reluctantly, allowed Spencer and Guster in on the search, the more eyes the better, and if there was ever a time Lassiter needed one of Spencer's "psychic visions" it was now. He had to bring Riley back.

The group split off (The psychic duo tagging along with Juliet for safety reasons). Lassiter made his way around to the back of the police station, gun already in hand. He searched quickly through each car in the back lot and then made his way across the street, figuring the criminals wouldn't be dumb enough to stay near the police station. As he approached the small mom and pop store Carlton kept thinking back to the girl's big frightened eyes that had been looking into his just moments ago. He should have told her that she was safe, that he wouldn't let anything happen to her ever again. But he didn't. He didn't say anything. And he did let something happen to her, how could he be so stupid?

Hushed voices from the far end of the store's parking lot broke Lassiter from his thoughts. Instinctively the detective brought up his gun and approached cautiously. Lassiter reached a large SUV that was blocking his view to the owners of the voices. He crouched down and sidled up to the end of the vehicle and carefully peered around. Two men stood on the far side of a car two spaces down. "Where the hell is he!" one of the men yelled, he was a short, stocky man with a thinning hair line. He looked very nervous and was repeatedly wiping sweat from his forehead. "It shouldn't be taking him this long!"

The other man seemed to be just the opposite of the first, he was tall with a more muscular build and had long hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Keep your voice down!" he chided, stepping around the car "He'll be here, we can't leave without him." That's when Lassiter saw her, the taller man was holding tightly onto Riley's wrist and pulling her along with him. She had tears running down her face and was gripping her teddy bear so tightly Carlton was sure the thing would pop in half.

The sight sent a spark of anger straight through the detective. She looked so frightened, Lassiter didn't think that it was possible for her to look any more scared than she had for the past few days, but there it was. He had to do something, he had to tell her that she was safe.

"SBPD! Freeze!" Lassiter yelled standing up from behind the SUV, gun drawn in front of him. Both men whipped around and stared at him in shock. "Don't move and put your hands in the air! Now!" He ordered. The men did as they were told. "Riley come over here!" The little girl didn't move, once again frozen in fear. "Both of you down on the ground, hands where I can see them." This time they didn't move. Carlton wasn't sure why, neither of them were armed. The detective moved towards the men, "I said-"

Any other day, any other situation, and Lassiter would have heard the third man on the other side of the SUV. But with the way Riley was watching him, with her eyes pleading him to rescue her; he never saw the butt of the gun as it came at his head. And it was the last thing he remembered before the ground came up to meet him, those eyes, those scared, pleading eyes.

**Chapter End**


	2. Chapter 2: Can't Keep a Good Lassie Down

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I also am in no way affiliated with Volkswagen, P. T. Cruiser, or Miami Vice.

**Chapter 2: Can't Keep a Good Lassie Down**

After two hours of continuous searching Juliet and the other officers had returned to the police station without any sign of the young girl. Detective Lassiter had yet to return, but if Juliet knew her partner she knew that he wouldn't give up until all possible leads had been exhausted. She was also certain that he was probably beating himself up about the whole situation. When Riley's foster care worker had told them what happened she had seen a look of guilt flash across his face, it was only for a second but it was there. Of course she wasn't feeling much better; they had allowed for the girl to be taken right out from under them.

Juliet sat at her desk going over what information they had. She had the original case lying open on her desk along with a statement from Mrs. Carter. The pedestrian asking for directions was obviously a ruse to get her attention off of Riley; the man was one of the criminals. Mrs. Carter did her best to describe what he looked like but besides a general description she didn't have much, the guy wore a hat and sunglasses to hide his face. He was of average height, clean shaven, and wore a t-shirt, sports jacket, and jeans. Juliet had also sent out officers to pick up security camera footage from surrounding businesses to see if they had been caught on any of the film (the police departments own video footage had turned up nothing).

And that was it, that was all they had. It was pathetic really the kidnappers not only managed to get away with murder but now they had also taken a girl right off of police property without leaving a hint of evidence behind. Juliet let out a long sigh dropping her head into her hands, things were not going well. She was hoping that Carlton would show up soon with something that would help them.

"Cheer up Jules." A voice said suddenly making Juliet jump, she had been so focused on the files in front of her she forgot that Shawn was sitting next to her desk. Both he and Gus were looking at her with mild concern; she must look as stressed as she felt. "The spirits are telling me that something will come up soon."

"Detective O'Hara!" Buzz McNabb was moving quickly towards them holding a tape in his hand. "I've got something that you and the Chief need to see." The alarmed look on Buzz's face sent a chill down the junior detective's spine.

"See, I told you!" Shawn added cheerfully as they all got up to follow McNabb to the Chief's office.

Minutes later Juliet, Chief Vick, Buzz, Shawn and Gus were all crowded around the small TV in the Chiefs office watching security footage from the parking lot of a small store across the street. The video displayed the corner of the lot, a small white car sat closest to the camera. On the other side it sat by two other cars and a large black SUV. They all watched as two men approached the white car pulling along behind them a frightened little girl. Juliet's heart leaped, it was Riley! Immediately Vick began issuing orders, "O'Hara I want this video taken to forensics to get the faces identified. I also want officers sent across the street to comb for evidence."

"Right Chief!" Juliet moved to take out the video.

"Ummm… actually that's not all, you need to keep watching." Buzz interrupted with the same look on his face that had her shivering before. Curious, the group crowded back around the TV. The two men appeared to be in an argument as they stood next to the car. '_That's strange' _O'Hara thought to herself '_why haven't they left yet? They should be hurrying to get out of there' _They all watched as the two men were suddenly surprised by Head Detective Carlton Lassiter appearing from behind the SUV, gun drawn. Lassiter did find her! So why hadn't he returned yet? Carlton was shouting orders while a third man entered the camera frame. Juliet's heart sank '_Oh no', _he was on the other side of the SUV, Lassiter didn't see him. '_No…no, no Carlton please…. he's right there you have to see him.' _But he didn't. The man made his move as Lassiter stepped forward, striking him on the head with the back of a gun. Juliet looked away as her partner fell to the ground, unconscious.

No one in the room moved, no one said a word as the men argued on the screen. They dragged Lassiter over to the car and roughly shoved him into the trunk, placing the young girl in along with him. As the car drove off the screen silence remained in the room. Buzz reached forward and stopped the video "I'll take this down to forensics Chief." He said quietly, Vick nodded.

"Alright O'Hara nothing has changed we find these men we find Detective Lassiter." Vick tried to keep her voice calm but the worry leaked through anyway. Juliet couldn't move, the scene of her partner getting hit kept playing itself over in her head. How was she supposed to keep going? Her partner was hurt and in trouble, he may not even be alive. Juliet caught the Chiefs eyes, as if knowing exactly what she was thinking Vick looked back at her with a fierce determination, _'Pull it together O'Hara, Lassiter needs you'_ she was telling her without needing to say the words. Slowly O'Hara nodded and compelled her feet to move.

Shawn and Gus followed her out of the office. She ordered some officers over to the parking lot and turned her attention on the psychic, "Please tell me you're getting something Shawn, I really need it right now."

"I'm sorry Jules, the spirits are being strangely silent." Juliet was surprised by the look on Shawn's face, his mouth was pulled into a thin line, his eyebrows were knitted together and his hazel eyes shined with concern. Shawn Spencer looked genuinely worried. Juliet knew that he liked to relentlessly tease Carlton, but was it possible that Shawn also cared about the grumpy detective. "But I know Lassie is ok," Shawn added, probably to comfort the both of them, "He's got to be."

Pain. Pain was the first thing that came. Lassiter felt like someone had set off a bomb inside his head, and then proceeded to destroy what remained of his fragile skull by hitting it repeatedly with a sledge hammer. The pain radiated from the right side of his temple which was currently lying on some hard, dirty surface. Carlton tried to move to a more comfortable position and was rewarded with a second explosion being released within his skull. The small movement had left him seeing stars behind his closed eyes.

Where the hell was he? What happened? He couldn't seem to remember. But judging from the pain and the dried blood plastered to the right side of his face he had hit his head, and he had hit it hard. Lassiter moved his hands to wipe the blood from his eyes but was stopped short by a soft *clink* and a sharp tug to his wrist. Handcuffs. _'crap' _he thought _'why am I wearing handcuffs?' _As Lassiter began to take in more of his surroundings he realized that there was something leaning against his legs, something soft and warm. Carlton opened his eyes slightly, the little bit of light in the room sent daggers of pain into his already throbbing brain. He stubbornly blinked through the pain, and when his eyes finally focused some, the detective took in his surroundings.

He was lying on his side in a small, dimly lit room. The only source of light was filtering through a tiny window. Through bleary eyes he could make out log walls and a door on the opposite side of the room. The only object in the room was a wobbly wooden chair sitting in the corner. Lassiter looked down to find the source of warmth on his legs, a young girl laid curled up and leaning against him, fast asleep. As soon as he saw Riley all the memories came flashing back to him, the failed questioning, the girl going missing, finding her in the parking lot, and finally the surprise attack and hit to the head. How could he be so stupid, he should have known there was a third man. He should have heard him coming.

Just thinking about it made his head throb even more, Carlton let a small groan of pain escape his lips. The noise woke the sleeping girl and sent her scurrying off into the corner when she saw that the detective was awake. Even through blurry eyes Carlton could see how scared she was, but he really didn't know what to do. He just lay their watching her, frozen, until she started crying. Crap, Spencer was right; he really was bad at this stuff. Finally he sucked it up and put on his best sensitive voice, "Hey it's ok. Stop crying your ok." That only sent Riley into a deeper crying fit. Lassiter cringed at the loud whining noises she was making; it sent more daggers into his aching head. '_Well that didn't work, c'mon you can take down criminals you can figure out how to soothe a crying girl….. can't you?' _He had to do something.

Maybe he was going about this all wrong, maybe he should tackle this his way, Lassiter's way. He remembered how she had responded by keeping eye contact with her when she took her bear, the fear began to dissipate then maybe it would work now. "Riley look at me" Carlton ordered in a stern but gentle voice, the little girls head snapped up and met his eyes. "Come over here" He ordered again. Riley wiped her eyes and slowly made her way over, sitting down a few feet away. The pain in his head was starting to grow worse as he talked. "I know you're scared but I need you to be brave, can you do that?" The little girl hugged her knees to her chest and hid her face. "Riley look at me" she lifted her head again, tears welling up in her eyes. His eyelids were beginning to grow heavy, he did his best to keep the stern tone in his voice "Riley I need you to be brave" he emphasized "Can you do this for me?"

After several minutes the little girl nodded her head and squeaked out "yes"

"Promise?" Carlton added groggily.

"Promise." Came her tiny reply.

Before unconsciousness claimed Lassiter again he felt Riley's trembling little body crawl over and curl up next to his. '_maybe I'm not so bad at this sentimental crap' _he thought to himself as he drifted off.

The police hadn't been able to identify the men from the video. The only thing they got from it was a picture of the first two men's faces, which they immediately sent out to have placed on the news. The third man, the one that knocked out Lassiter, kept his face covered. He was the same man that had distracted Mrs. Carter when Riley was taken.

Shawn was able to convince Juliet that they should go back to the Fuller's house. Going back to the crime scene was their plan just before things got out of control, and Shawn was sure there was something there that would still help. There was something there that he missed, he could feel it.

As Juliet drove to the house Shawn fidgeted restlessly in the back seat (Gus had called shotgun first), the silence in the car was unbearable and was making Shawn even more anxious. The quiet only made him replay the video footage over and over in his head, sometimes having an eidetic memory sucked. He couldn't stand to watch Lassiter fall to the ground again or the blood running down his face as his attackers dragged him to the car. He had a feeling Juliet wasn't faring much better than him, every time he glanced in her direction she looked like she was going to cry. Her face was scrunched together in thought and her eyes glistened with tears that she held back defiantly. He could only imagine what was going through her head. Shawn had to do something to break the tension.

"Slug bug no slug back!" He yelled socking his friend in the arm.

"Ow! Shawn!" Gus protested rubbing his now injured arm, "that wasn't even a Beetle, it was a P.T. Cruiser."

"Oh… Cruiser Bruiser!" he yelled punching his friend in the arm again.

"OW!" Gus whipped around in his seat and punched Shawn in the shoulder as hard as he could.

"Ouch! I said no slug back! You're not playing the game right!"

"I don't care Shawn! That hurt!" Gus turned back around in his seat refusing to continue with Shawn's game. But a small laugh from Juliet told him that his plan had worked.

Juliet pulled into the driveway of the Fuller house. It was eerily quiet; Mrs. Fuller had gone to stay with family, not wanting to return to the place where her husband was killed. The trio walked into the house and ducked under the crime scene tape surrounding the living room. Shawn took in the room for a second time, but besides the body no longer lying in the middle, nothing had changed. The room was ridiculously large and furnished in typical rich person fashion, large chandelier, ugly printed furniture, weird little figurines and big confusing paintings that made Shawn's head hurt. The only thing in the room Shawn did like was the big screen TV and entertainment system that took up an entire wall. '_Now that's worth stealing' _he thought. So why hadn't the burglars stolen it? It was the perfect item for a thief. It was worth a lot of money, highly sought after, and there were three people, they could have gotten it out easily. So why not? And why hadn't they taken anything else?

"What did they take again?" Shawn whispered to Gus as Juliet searched the room.

Gus rolled his eyes "They stole a collection of priceless French paintings the Fullers owned."

"What?" Shawn scoffed "If I were them I would have stole that sweet TV instead of some stupid pictures. Do you know how awesome it would be to watch _Miami Vice_ on that thing. Whaaat." Shawn held out his fist for a trademark fist bump but Gus only glared at his friend, clearly annoyed.

"Shawn those paintings were early Renaissance, they are extremely rare and probably worth more money than you or I could ever make in a lifetime. Didn't you read the case file?"

"Gus you know reading makes me sleepy and I haven't had time for a decent nap in like a week." Shawn ignored another eye roll from his friend as his own eyes scanned the room. "And besides, that doesn't even make sense there aren't any pictures missing from the walls."

"The Fullers kept the collection locked in a safe" Gus added plainly, he pointed over to a larger safe hidden within a bookshelf. "You would know that if you read the case file."

"I just told you I need at least a two hour nap after I…." Shawn's voice trailed off as the pieces began clicking into place. The burglars hadn't stolen anything else, they knew exactly what they were looking for. They knew it would take three of them to get the paintings out safely, and they knew exactly where to find them. And, of course the piece that brought it all together, there was the girl.

"Ohhhhh!" Shawn yelled startling Gus and grabbing Juliet's attention. Shawn staggered backwards dramatically and put his fingers to his head, "I'm getting something. I hear voices, they're all around me! Wait no! It's… It's just one voice but it's coming from all over." Shawn whipped his head back and forth as if trying to locate the voice. "It's the house! The house is speaking to me!" he yelled.

Juliet was watching Shawn closely, "What is it? What is the house saying?" she asked impatiently. The fake psychic could tell she had been waiting for something like this, and he wasn't going to let her down.

"The house says that… that it's seen at least one of the men before. It says they knew him! The murderer is someone the Fullers know!" He finished, collapsing seemingly exhausted into an ugly chair. Shawn knew it had to be true, why else would they know everything that they did? But even more than that why would they risk taking the girl unless she could lead the police right to them. She had seen one of them at least once before, too.

Shawn watched Juliet's face as she mentally scanned through the evidence. When her eyebrows shot up he knew she came to the same conclusion. "This is wonderful! Thank you Shawn!" It was nice to see a smile back on Juliet's face, they finally had something to go on. Something that would help them find Lassiter and the little girl. "Alright let's get back to the station and get Mrs. Fuller in so we can talk to her as soon as possible." Juliet bolted out of the room, Shawn and Gus followed after. This time when Shawn lifted his hand for a fist bump Gus gladly returned it.

When Lassiter woke again the blinding agony he felt inside his head had settled down to a sharp pain. His mind was slowly beginning to clear. He still felt as if his brain had recently been blown into a million pieces but for the moment he could at least think straight again. He could feel Riley shaking his shoulder. "….ssie….Mr. Lassie please wakeup."

"mmmmhhh" was all Carlton could answer at the moment. He slowly cracked his eyes open shielding himself from the still painful light. The sunlight coming through the window seemed to have dimmed. He had no idea if it was sunset or sunrise; all sense of time was lost to him after losing consciousness twice now.

"Mr. Lassie your awake!" Riley squeaked, she moved to sit in front of his head which was still lying on the dirty floor. "I hear voices, I'm scared."

"I thought you promised me you were going to be brave." Lassiter said. Riley's lip started quivering and her eyes quickly filled with tears. Crap, she was going to start crying again. "No no no, don't start crying" Lassiter added in a panic, he didn't want to have to deal with that again. "It's ok, you're doing good. We're okay." With a sniffle the tears disappeared but the pout remained on her face. He let out a sigh of relief for having avoided that minefield.

After Riley calmed down Carlton realized that he did hear voices coming from behind the door. Slowly Lassiter moved himself into a sitting position (which is not easy to do with your hands cuffed behind your back). The pain in his head protested the movement but after a few moments he was able to prop himself against the wall. As he moved Lassiter heard a small metal sound move along with him. He looked around and his heart sank when he found the source of the noise. Attached to Lassiter's handcuffs was an old chain about 3 feet long that was hooked firmly into the wall behind him. They had chained him to the wall like some mangy dog. Carlton's anger churned inside him at the thought, '_I'll shoot them' _he thought to himself '_they better hope I don't get my hands on a gun…. after… I get out of these handcuffs… somehow' _Maybe these guys aren't as stupid as he originally thought, he had better be more careful if he hoped to get Riley out of here safely.

The voices in the other room broke Carlton from his thoughts; he tried to focus in on them. "What are we going to do? He's a cop!"came a panicked voice.

"Hey don't look at me. You two are the idiots that got caught, you're lucky I came along when I did." The second voice sounded arrogant.

"Lucky? In case you've forgotten it's your fault we're in this mess!" A third voice yelled. "If we didn't have to go back to get the girl then-"

"Shut it!"the second voice shouted, the arrogant tone gone. "If it weren't for me you wouldn't be sitting on a multi-million dollar payout! So you just do what I tell you like the hired thugs that you are." That was the end of the argument as the three men entered the room where their two captives were being held.

Riley immediately hid behind Lassiter, squeezing herself between him and the wall. Carlton recognized two of the men from the parking lot. The third man (most likely the person responsible for the generous wound on the side of his head) was of medium height and build. He now wore a suit and tie and was very well groomed, complete with feathery hair that he was sure Spencer would have had to comment on. He didn't have the appearance of your typical street thief, he looked more like he already had money to spare. "Well, well. It looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake." He was also the owner of the annoyingly arrogant voice. "Detective you are causing major problems for me." He said crouching down in front of Lassiter.

"Oh really? Well I do hate interfering with criminal activity" Lassiter sneered sarcastically. He fixed the man with his best withering glare.

"It's ok detective," he responded not intimidated at all, Carlton wasn't exactly in any position to scare anyone. "Actually I owe you a debt of gratitude."

"Why?" Lassiter asked slowly.

"For her," the man stated smugly, pointing a finger at the girl cowering behind Lassiter. "I wouldn't have even known that she saw me had you not brought her in for questioning." He smiled and let out a small laugh, "I was keeping my eye on you and your partner to make sure you weren't getting to close to finding me, and you weren't." The detective cringed; he hated it being pointed out that he was doing well at his job. The cocky man noticed and continued, obviously enjoying himself. "But then you brought her in and I knew I might be in trouble, so I just had to do something about it. I couldn't let her….or you ruin my plan."

The last line came out of his mouth smothered in disdain. Lassiter could tell he was angry at him for messing up his supposedly perfect plan. "You think you're so smart don't you," Carlton growled, it was his turn to poke at the other man's ego. "But if you were really the criminal mastermind that you think you are you wouldn't have let so many things slip through your fingers." He watched as the man's cocky smile was replaced with a scowl as he stood back up. The detective let his own cocky smile come to his face, "If you were stupid enough to let a little girl threaten your "fool-proof plan" than it would only be a matter of time before we found something else you slipped up on. I bet my partner is already on your trail and-"

Lassiter was cut short by a hard kick to the stomach, which sent him doubled over in pain, gasping for air. Riley scurried away into a corner now that her hiding place was lying on the floor in agony. The man reached down and grabbed hold of Carlton's suit jacket, pulling him up to meet his face. "Don't think I haven't been nice to you detective!" He yelled, now furious. The man's anger was on a short fuse. "The only reason you're not dead is because I'm! So! Nice!" He threw Lassiter to the ground again, "I repaid my debt to you by not killing you right there in the parking lot! But don't think for a second that I won't now!"

The shorter man behind him fidgeted, "Jared you said that we weren't going to kill him." He said nervously, "We can't kill a cop! Do you know what they do to cop killers?"

"Shut up!" Jared yelled "I don't care!" He took a deep breath to calm down and directed his attention back to Lassiter. "If you promise to be good" he said as he walked to the corner of the room where Riley was hiding, she tried to escape but Jared grabbed hold of her tiny arm and drug her back to Carlton. "I will consider letting both…." he emphasized shaking Riley by the arm "of you live. So what do you say detective?" He held tight on to the girl's arm, most likely leaving a bruise. "Will you be good?" That smug look was back on his face, it sent anger radiating through Lassiter. But he had to get him to let Riley go, he was hurting her. Slowly he nodded his head yes. "What was that detective?"

"Yes" Carlton answered through gritted teeth.

"Yes, what?"

"Yes I'll be good."

"Good boy" he released Riley and pushed her away, she ran back to the corner tears streaking down her face. Lassiter grew more and more furious with each breath that came from the man's mouth. "Well if you'll excuse me I need to get my rest tonight," he said adjusting his tie as if nothing happened. Jared smirked down at Lassiter as he struggled to sit back up. "I've got a date with that pretty little partner of yours." He said slowly, malice dripping with every word.

Rage flashed through Carlton's eyes. Immediately he was to his feet rushing forward to wipe away that arrogant grin, the chain stopping him short just in front of Jared, "You stay the hell away from her or so help me!"

"Or you'll what?" he man challenged. Lassiter pulled against his cuffs and chain but he couldn't move any further. His concussion finally caught up to him making him dizzy at the sudden movement. Slowly he sunk back to the ground. Jared only laughed at him, "that's what I thought. As it turns out you were right about your partner. She and that idiot psychic are getting to close for comfort, so I've got to go make sure they don't get any closer."

"You had better not hurt them." The detective growled as menacingly as he could. The man laughed before landing a second kick, this time to the ribs, sending Lassiter to the floor again.

"Well this has been fun detective but I really must be going." Before he left the room he turned to the other two men, "You two keep an eye on them….. and keep them alive. Don't mess it up this time." He sneered. The two exchanged an annoyed look and followed their leader out.

Once the three had left the room the only sounds that remained were Lassiter's rasping breaths and Riley's shaky sobs. The sun had set leaving the room in pitch black. "Riley?" his voice was quiet but he still heard the scared girl come to sit next to him.

"Mr. Lassie are you ok?" she asked.

"Oh sure it'll take a lot more than a couple kicks… to get me down." He joked between deep breaths, slowly sitting back up. "How about you?" he tried looking the girl over himself but it was too dark.

"I'm ok." She said as she snuggled up closer to the detective. He tried not to move away from her, the contact made him uncomfortable, but she needed him. At least it was a distraction from his thoughts. He felt so weak and helpless, a murderer was on his way to meet with O'Hara and Spencer, they didn't even know it, and there was nothing he could do about it.

**Chapter End**


	3. Chapter 3: Dinner for Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 3: Dinner for Two**

Junior Detective Juliet O'Hara was exhausted. The events of the day before had taken their toll on her. After Shawn's vision they went back to the police station to bring in Mrs. Fuller so they could talk to her, but she refused to come in until the next day. Juliet knew that she was still mourning her husband's death and understood why she wouldn't want to come in, but it still frustrated the detective. Lassiter and Riley were still out there and Mrs. Fuller might know who had them, Juliet needed to talk to her. However, forced to wait, O'Hara poured over the evidence yet again, she refused to give up. At midnight, Chief Vick finally forced her to go home and get some rest, reminding her that she was no good exhausted.

The junior detective did go home but she certainly didn't get any rest. After lying awake for most of the night she did manage to doze off. The sleep was short lived, she jerked back awake after a terrible nightmare. She dreamt that she was too late, she was too late and her partner was dead. After that Juliet gave up on sleep and went back to going over the case. She was determined to make sure her dream did not come true.

So here she was walking up the steps of the police station, coffee in hand. She was running on only an hour of sleep and still as stressed as ever. But despite all that Juliet was in a good mood because they were close…. they were close to bringing back that poor little girl and finding her missing partner.

On her way through the station, Juliet spotted officer Buzz McNabb standing near the filing cabinet clearly in a daze. "Buzz what are you doing?" she asked as she approached him. He didn't respond. Buzz's usually cheerful face was stern and thoughtful as he stared blankly ahead. Juliet was curious, the young officer was always so upbeat, what could have him looking so…. sad? "Buzz?" she asked again, poking him in the arm to get his attention.

McNabb jumped almost making Juliet spill her precious coffee. Apparently he didn't even realize she was standing there, "Oh! Detective O'Hara good morning." His solemn face was quickly replaced with a bright smile. "Did you need something?"

"Good morning Buzz. I just came over to make sure everything was ok."

"Everything is great; I was just getting some files for the arson case."

"I meant is everything ok with you?"

"Me?" he said glancing away, the bright smile fading a bit. "I'm…ok, why do you ask?"

"You looked so sad a minute ago, I was worried, it's not like you." Buzz still wouldn't quite look her in the eye. "What were you thinking about?" she asked.

"Well… I was just, um…" the tall officer was looking down at his feet as he spoke and, despite his size, he reminded Juliet of a small child afraid to ask a question. "It's nothing really Detective O'Hara, you have enough to worry about right now."

Something was bothering him and she had to know what. "McNabb its ok you can tell me." She said reassuringly.

"Well….I was just thinking about Detective Lassiter." He said slowly, finally meeting Juliet's eyes. "I was just, you know…worried about him." Juliet smiled, Buzz had always looked up to Lassiter as a personal mentor, and of course he would be worried about him. "I mean I know that Detective Lassiter can take care of himself, it's not as if he would need my help or anything." He added in a panic, looking around as if he were afraid Carlton was going to appear out of nowhere and start yelling at him for thinking he couldn't handle things himself.

It felt good to know that she wasn't the only one worried about her partner. She felt like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders since Carlton was taken. "It's okay Buzz, I'm worried too. But we'll find him."

Buzz looked back down at his feet. "But you don't think he's already….you know…" he was talking so quietly she had to lean in to hear him. "Do you think…he might already be de-"

"No!" Juliet practically yelled startling the young officer. She didn't want to hear those words. The thought had crossed her mind enough already, she couldn't stand to hear it out loud. "No" she said again, quieter this time. She forced the smile back to her face, "Come on this is Lassiter we're talking about here. He's probably already got the guys cuffed and ready to be booked; he's just waiting for us to come pick him up."

"Yeah," Buzz said cheerfully "You're right."

"It's very sweet of you to be worried." She added, "But what do you think Carlton would say if he knew it was affecting your work?"

Juliet saw Buzz literally cringe at the thought of being chewed out by Lassiter, but the smile never left his face. "You're right I better get back to work, thank you Detective O'Hara."

"No problem." she said as he walked away looking like he felt better. If only Juliet's own words could comfort her so easily.

After two hours of restlessly waiting at her desk, O'Hara finally saw Mrs. Fuller entering the police station. Juliet was surprised that Shawn wasn't here. Yesterday, he seemed just as anxious as she was to talk to Mrs. Fuller. But she didn't have time to worry about that right now, he probably just overslept or got distracted by a new taco stand. "Good morning Mrs. Fuller. I'm Detective O'Hara." Juliet said extending her hand. She tried her best not to look as impatient as she felt.

"Good morning Detective. Please call me Ilene." She said, shaking O'Hara's hand. Ilene was in her early 40's; she was tall and skinny and had blonde, wavy hair that fell to her shoulders. As Juliet sat across from her in the conference room she could tell the new widow probably hadn't slept much in the past few days. "I'm sorry for not coming in sooner detective. It's just that since my husband…" she looked down at her hands which were gripping her purse tightly. "I haven't been able to….I don't like thinking about it." She finished, pulling out a handkerchief to dab at her eyes.

"It's okay Mrs. Fuller." Juliet said gently.

"No it's not!" Ilene said suddenly, "I was being selfish. Poor Riley she's probably so scared, and I was just wallowing in self pity. But now I want to do anything I can to help." O'Hara was inspired by her sudden conviction. "and of course to help your detective, I'm so sorry he was caught up in all of this."

Juliet nodded, "Thank you. I just have a few questions for you but I think it will really help." She added.

"Okay fire away!" she said cheerfully. The woman's emotions seemed to be all over the place.

"It's about the paintings, since you kept them locked away are there many people that knew about them?"

"Oh certainly!" she answered "I was very proud of those paintings, I liked to show them off every chance I got. My husband was the one that liked to keep them locked up, he was always so worried about them and how expensive they were…I guess he was right to worry." Suddenly, she looked teary eyed again.

Juliet sighed, that wasn't the answer she was hoping for. "So did all of the people know just how much they were worth?"

"Definitely!" she smiled again. "I was proud of that as well. We got them from an auction for much less than they were worth, I just had to let people know. My husband was quite proud of it as well, he was always so worried about money. He worked hard to get where we are today." She explained looking sad again, "I've never been very good with money so I even hired a Financial Advisor to help me, so that he wouldn't worry so much."

As she continued to talk Juliet nodded and took notes hoping something might be helpful, but once Mrs. Fuller started talking about which brands of clothing she thought were ok to buy and which weren't, the detective thought it might be time to interrupt. "Mrs. Fuller, do you think that you could make me a list of the people that know about the paintings?"

"Yes of course detective." Ilene paused, looking puzzled. "You….you don't think that it could have been any of them do you?

"We just don't want to leave anything out."

"Yes of course, but I really don't think that anyone I know would think of hurting my dear husband." She sounded so sincere. Juliet didn't have the heart to tell her the truth.

"Detective O'Hara" an officer interrupted. "There is someone here to see Mrs. Fuller." A young man followed the officer in.

"Oh! What are you doing here?" Mrs. Fuller said, jumping from her seat to greet the man.

"I came as soon as I could Ilene. How are you?" he said in a smooth voice.

"Oh I'm okay." She answered, tearing up again, "I thought you were supposed to be out of town for another week?"

"I was but as soon as I heard what happened I had to come make sure you were okay."

"Thank you that's so sweet." She said smiling and gave him a hug. The man was very handsome and seemed well mannered, but there was something about him that Juliet didn't like. "Oh detective how rude of me." Ilene added, "This is my financial advisor I was talking about, we have become very good friends."

The man extended his arm out to Juliet and smiled, "It's nice to meet you detective. My name is Jared."

Shawn was mad at himself for being late to the police station, but a man can only resist that new taco stand on Main Street for so long. He needed something to make him feel better and a delicious taco was just the thing to do it. When Gus picked him up from the Psych office, his best friend was surprised that he was even awake that early in the morning. But the truth was Shawn never went to sleep that night, he couldn't sleep, and he didn't want to think about why. All he knew was that it definitely wasn't because he was worried about Lassiter…. at least it wasn't if he kept telling himself that.

Shawn convinced Gus to stop at the taco stand. Gus argued the whole time about how tacos are not a proper breakfast food, but he didn't seem to mind anymore when he ordered three tacos for himself. The quick stop had left the duo late as they ran up the steps of the station. When Shawn entered the bullpen he spotted Juliet in the conference room shaking hands with a man he had never seen before. There was also a woman that could have only been Mrs. Fuller; her typical rich person clothes matched her typical rich person house. The fake psychic decided to go with his usual method of entrance as he burst through the doors of the room. "I'm sensing that someone here had something stolen from them," he paused as if in a deep thought. "Paintings. Someone had paintings stolen."

"I had paintings stolen!" Ilene said raising her hand.

"Mrs. Fuller I presume." Shawn said knowingly. "I am Shawn Spencer, Psychic!"

The woman let out a small gasp, "A psychic! Amazing!" A smug look came across Shawn's face.

"Shawn we knew about the paintings already." Gus interjected, bringing his friend back down to earth.

"Yes, but I was reminded psychically." He was quick to recover, smiling again at Mrs. Fuller.

"Mrs. Fuller this is Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster, they are consultants for the department." Juliet explained.

"It's nice to meet you." She greeted both of them shaking their hands. "You can call me Ilene."

Shawn glanced over at the man standing next to Ilene, Juliet noticed and introduced him. "This is Mrs. Fuller's friend and financial advisor Jared….um, I'm sorry I didn't catch your last name." She questioned.

The man flashed the detective a bright, flirty smile, "Smith, Jared Smith."

Shawn fixed him with a glare; he already didn't like the overfriendly character. He quickly stepped in between Juliet and Jared, "A financial advisor? What, you like tell people how much money they have? I don't need someone to tell me that, I have a total of…." Shawn reached into his pockets "$2 and…. a mint!"

" No, Shawn," Gus lectured " financial advisors help people manage their money, like offering advice on investments, or mortgages, or-"

"Alright Gus we get it, you can stop showing off." Shawn interrupted.

His friend looked offended, "well then get it right Shawn! Then I wouldn't have to correct you." He said in a huff.

"Yes that's right. I help Ilene make good decisions with her money." Jared said proudly.

"And why exactly are you here?" Shawn scoffed. He looked the man up and down, and besides his amazing hair, there was something off about the man, and the psychic did not like it. He certainly looked the part, from his expensive hair cut; to his tailored suit he screamed high class. The only thing that didn't fit was a small coating of mud on the bottom of his shoes. '_Now why would Mr. Perfect be playing in the mud?' _he thought to himself.

"I'm here because I was worried about Ilene." Jared answered sharply. Shawn noticed anger flash across his face, but he was quick to cover it. "We've become good friends in my short time of working for her." He said calmly, placing a friendly hand on her shoulder, "and when I heard that her husband was killed and the police were asking to talk with her, I thought she might like a friendly face nearby." Ilene smiled and placed a hand over his. She had obviously fallen for his prince charming act, but Shawn wasn't so easily fooled.

"Uh huh" he grunted.

"Oh! I was just going to make a list of people that know about the paintings for Detective O'Hara." Mrs. Fuller chirped, "Perhaps you could help me Jared."

"I would be happy to." The two sat down at the table as Juliet handed them a pen and paper.

"Shawn, Gus, can I speak with you for a moment please." Juliet ordered, grabbing the pair by the arm and leading them to the door.

Before they left the room the trio was stopped short by Jared, "I do hope we can be of help" he said almost sincerely, "That poor little girl, I bet she is so scared. And your detective, it would be just awful if he got killed because of this whole mess." The comment sounded almost like a threat and sent chills straight up Shawn's spine.

Juliet just smiled and shut the door behind her. "Jules I'm getting some baaaad juju magumbo off of that guy." Shawn whispered.

"I know the guys a creep." She said with a disgusted look on her face. Shawn tried to hide his relief. "Do you guys have anything new?" he and Gus shook their heads in response. "Well at least we're getting somewhere with this list. I'm going to run the names to see if anything comes up."

"Right Jules you do that, in the meantime Gus and I are going to get some lunch. How does tacos sound, there's a new stand on Main Street."

"Shawn we just had-" Gus was interrupted by a jab to his ribs by Shawn's elbow.

Juliet looked at the two, a little confused. "ummmm no thanks guys, I'm not really hungry. But you enjoy."

"Right we will, I'll even eat one for you!" Shawn yelled as he pulled Gus away.

"Shawn we just had tacos….. and why did you hit me in the stomach! Not cool!"

"Because Gus, we're not going for tacos. We're going to check into this Jared creep. I don't like him."

"You just don't like him because he was hitting on Juliet." Gus stated smugly as they got into his car.

"That's not true, the guys a creep! Jules even said so herself!"

"Whatever you say."

"You….just….shut up and drive."

Lassiter sat up most of the night trying to figure out a way to get himself free from the cuffs and the girl out of the cabin safely. The only thing he'd been able to come up with was a rusty link that he found in the chain that was currently hooking him to the wall. He was hoping that he could wear it down enough to break it by cutting at it with the handcuffs. It wasn't easy, since he couldn't see his hands behind his back, and he knew that there was a very slim chance that it would actually work, but at least it was something. It was also keeping his mind off the pain that was still pulsing through his head, and now his stomach and ribs too.

Riley had spent the night asleep, curled up into Lassiter's side. He tried several times to put some space between himself and the girl, but every time she would move herself right back to the same spot, as close to Carlton as possible. She had taken quite a liking to him. Why, he wasn't really sure. Kids usually ran away from him crying. It's not like it was his fault, he just tried to warn them about the potential thugs, murderers, rapists and so on, that were out there. Kids just didn't like him, but this girl was different.

Since the sun had risen and lit up the room, Lassiter noticed that Jared had left a nice sized bruise on the girl's tiny arm after he grabbed her. '_This guy had better pray that I never get my hands on him'_, he thought to himself, he would regret ever even looking in the girls direction. Riley stirred at his side, he heard a small yawn as she stretched and hugged her bear. "You awake?" he asked.

"mmhmm" she sighed and moved closer.

Carlton flinched, "oookay that's close enough."

Riley looked up at him with big eyes, "Mr. Teddykins says he's cold."

Lassiter raised an eyebrow, "Mr. Teddykins?"

"uh-huh" she nodded, holding the rag of a bear up in front of his face, "Mr. Teddykins."

He laughed, "What kind of a name is Mr. Teddykins?"

The little girl scowled at him, "Well what kind of a name is Mr. Lassie?" she challenged.

Carlton frowned, he wasn't going to be bested by a child, "well actually my name is-", but he was quickly interrupted by the two thugs entering the room. Riley squeezed into her hiding spot behind Lassiter.

"Good your awake." Said the taller man, "I trust you slept well" he added with a smirk.

"Yeah because this place is just like a five star hotel." Carlton sneered.

"Look we just have to keep you alive, we don't have to make you comfortable." Tall guy sneered back.

The shorter, nervous man finally spoke up, "so…um….is there anything you need?"

"Well you could let us go," Lassiter responded sarcastically "other than that we're just peachy."

Tall guy let out a laugh as the two turned to leave. Lassiter felt a tug on his sleeve from behind him, "Mr. Lassie, I'm hungry."

"Food" he yelled to the two, "we need some food." Nervous guy nodded as he shut the door.

Riley didn't come out from her hiding spot, she knew that the men would be back. She stayed were she was and remained quiet. Carlton was worried about her, they had been there for almost a day now and this was the first time she had asked for anything. "Is there anything else you need Riley? Maybe a blanket or something?"

"No…. I'm okay. Just hungry" she replied. Lassiter was actually kind of proud of her, she was a tough little girl.

Fifteen minutes later the shorter man returned to the room carrying two bottles of water and a plate with two sandwiches. He set them down on the small chair in the corner, before he left the room Lassiter had to try his luck at talking his way out of this. "Why are you doing this?" he asked the eternally nervous man. "You don't seem like the killer type."

"I'm not!" he yelled, taking out a handkerchief and wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Nobody was supposed to get hurt….that man wasn't supposed to be home. Jared…. he was the one that killed him, I had nothing to do with it."

"That's not how a judge is going to see it," the detective told him in his best cop voice "you were there; you're an accessory to murder."

The man shifted nervously on his feet, "I…I….I didn't.."

He was right were Lassiter wanted him. "But if you let the girl and me go right now, I might be able to help you."

"You….you could?" he said quietly. After a moment of contemplation he started to move towards Lassiter, but was roughly tugged back when the taller man entered the room.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You were just supposed to bring in the food." Tall guy yelled.

"He said he could help us. I don't want to go to prison." He whined.

"We're not going anywhere. You heard Jared, just a few more days and we get our payoff!" the bigger man seemed excited at the thought.

Lassiter snorted, "Like hell you are, you three have already messed up big time at least twice now. I'd say it's only a matter of time before you idiots are rotting in jail."

Tall guy stalked straight towards Lassiter, "you know, you've got a big mouth for a man in your position." He said kicking at the detectives legs.

He glared at the man standing above him. Carlton wasn't afraid; Jared was the dangerous one, not this guy. "And don't tell me you actually think this Jared guy is actually going to give you your money." He let out a laugh, "He's got no respect for either of you. I've seen this kind of thing plenty of times. As soon as he gets his money, he's going to be long gone leaving you two to take the fall."

"You're lying." The man said through gritted teeth.

"Am I? Or are you too stupid to see it?" Carlton challenged. The man balled his hands into fists and for a second Lassiter thought he was actually going to get hit again. Instead he turned around and grabbed the shorter man dragging him out of the room, yelling at him not to talk to Lassiter again. He slammed the door shut behind them. Crap, and things were going so smoothly, he was so close. Maybe calling him stupid wasn't the best idea he ever had.

When Lassiter's stomach started growling something dawned on him, "Hey how am I supposed to eat with my hands tied behind my back?"he yelled at the door, but no response came. "Great" he mumbled to himself.

After a few minutes he felt Riley crawl out from behind him. He watched as she walked over to the chair picked up a sandwich and took a bite. She chewed the piece slowly, savoring it, she was obviously very hungry. After she swallowed Riley glanced over at Lassiter and then back at his sandwich sitting on the plate, then back at Lassiter again. Suddenly her face lit up as if a light bulb went off in her head. Carlton continued to watch as Riley sat her sandwich down, picked up the waters, brought them over and sat them next to him. She then went back picked up the plate and brought them over, sitting them next to the waters. Finally, she went back to the chair and pushed it over so that it was sitting right in front of Carlton. He was forced to move his legs so that he was sitting cross legged or else the little girl would have ran them over with the chair. "What are you doing?" he questioned, but he got no response from the busy girl.

Riley picked up the plate and sat on the chair. She took another bite of her sandwich and held out Lassiter's sandwich in front of his face. "What are you doing?" he asked again.

"Helping." She responded moving the sandwich closer.

"Um….that's okay. I'm not hungry." It figures that his stomach would choose that time to start growling again.

The girl wasn't fooled. She lowered the sandwich from his face, "Mr. Teddykins says you need to eat to stay strong."

"Well you tell Mr. Teddykins I'm just fine and I'm not going to be fed." Was he arguing with a teddy bear? He must have been hit over the head harder than he thought.

Riley stared at him and took another bite of her sandwich. "Mr. Lassie please let me help." She whined holding the sandwich back in front of his face. Suddenly Riley smiled, "I want you to be all better, let me take care of you."

It was the first time Carlton had seen the little girl smile; it lit up her entire face and made her usually sad, brown eyes sparkle. Lassiter let out a deep sigh, if anyone ever asked him about this he would deny it till the day he died. Slowly he leaned forward and took a bite from the sandwich. Riley let out a happy giggle as he chewed. "Yummy?" she asked, giggling some more.

"Sure." He answered flatly. The food did taste good; he didn't realize how hungry he was. It was also good to see Riley so happy. He would never admit it, but it made him happy too.

"More?" she asked holding out the sandwich again, while taking a bite off her own. Lassiter took another bite. The little girl set the sandwiches down and picked up a water taking a big drink. "Thirsty?" she asked grabbing the other water. Crap, he was really thirsty too. Why not, he already had to be put through the torture of being fed, what was a little water too. Lassiter nodded not wanting to have to ask for help. The girl hoped down from her chair to help him. In the end he ended up with most of it down the front of his shirt, but he did feel better. "See Mr. Lassie, I can take good care of you." He just rolled his eyes and took another bite of his sandwich when she held it out again. If he made it out of this alive he would defiantly have to make sure Spencer never found out about of this.

"Smart Financial Advisors, how can I help you?"

"My name is Shawn Spencer, Psychic Detective, and this is my partner Hammer Jones"

"Hello" Gus said.

"We own a small Psychic Detective Agency but neither of us is very good with money. I spent our last check on a giant ball of cheese; it was great until it went bad. I didn't expect it to go bad that fast." Shawn said sadly, "and Hammer here spent the check before that on a very large collection of porcelain unicorns."

"They're like horses but better." Gus chimed in.

"Needless to say we could use some help."

"Well you've come to the right place, our advisors will help you to make smart money choices." The receptionist said cheerfully.

"Wonderful!" Shawn exclaimed. After a little internet research (mostly done by Gus) the two were able to find the company that Jared worked for. They went there to get more information on the suspicious man. "There is actually someone specific we were told to ask for, a Jared Smith."

"I'm sorry, but nobody by the name of Smith works here." She said after looking through her computer.

"Are you sure?" Shawn asked "He's about my height, amazing hair (not as amazing as mine but still), expensive suits, overly friendly, and possibly a bit of an anger problem."

The receptionist frowned, "oh you mean Jared Cain."

"Yes, yes that's exactly who I meant. I don't know where I got Jared Smith from."

"I think that's name of the guy that has the frozen yogurt cart." Gus added

"Yup, that must be where I got it from, nice guy." Shawn said, a bit distracted by the thought of yummy frozen yogurt. He forced his attention back to the receptionist. "So what do you think, is Jared Cain any good to work with?"

"I'm sorry but Mr. Cain doesn't work here anymore." The woman answered.

"He doesn't? Why not?" Gus asked, "Let me guess he smelled bad."

"Um.. no, I'm sorry I can't share that information, but I would be happy to suggest someone else."

"That would be wonderful, but first don't… you have to…" Shawn nudged his friend.

"What?" Gus looked confused. "Oh right! I have to use the…uh little boys room." He said to the receptionist.

"Down the hall to the right." She told him.

"Do you think you could show me, I get lost easily." Gus asked, trying to distract her.

"Sure…. I guess." She said, getting up to lead the way.

Once they left, Shawn got behind the computer to find Jared's employee file. "Let's see what you did." He said to himself. "You were…. fired, of course, but what for?" He heard the woman coming back down the hall; he was running out of time. "Ah! Got it!" he whispered excitedly, jumping up from the computer.

"Alright Mr. Spencer let's see what we can do for you." She said once she got back.

"Actually I changed my mind. I like spending money. So we'll be going now." He grabbed Gus by the arm once he got back, leaving the puzzled receptionist behind.

"Did you find anything?" Gus asked when they got to the car.

"He was fired," Shawn said excitedly "for embezzlement. Jared is not just a creep, he's a criminal."

Jared left the police station feeling quite proud of himself. Ilene was not suspicious of him at all; if anything the gullible woman liked him even more. He was able to keep his name off the list of suspects she was making for the female detective. Jared was pretty sure he had successfully kept the police from his trail. He was feeling pretty good as he walked to his car. '_Maybe I'll go back and have a little more fun with that meddlesome detective.' _He thought. Just before he got into his car his phone rang. "Hello" he answered.

"_Jared Cain?"_

"Yes?"

"_Mr. Cain, stop telling people that you work for us. You were fired and prosecuted; we do not want to be affiliated with you."_

It was his old company, Smart Financial Advisors. "Excuse me?" he questioned "I haven't told anyone that I work for you, not recently at least."

"_Sure, then why was there some weird guy, claiming to be a psychic, asking about you? If you want to keep doing your business, fine. But we don't want anything to do with you. If this happens again we're calling the cops!" _after that the line went dead.

"Psychic!" he yelled, hitting his car hard enough to leave a dent. '_Crap, crap, crap! That idiot is better than I thought,' _Things were falling apart. He would have to do something fast. He stood thinking for a moment and made a decision, he would have to go back to the cabin and take care of things himself. He punched a number into his phone and climbed into his car.

"_Hello_" came a voice on the other end.

"I'm going to be there in two hours, get things ready to go." He told the man, "It's time we cleaned up our mess for good."

**Chapter End**


	4. Chapter 4:Teaching a Old Dog a New Trick

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 4: Teaching an Old Dog a New Trick**

Juliet sat at her desk, running background checks for every person on the list Mrs. Fuller had made. It was tedious work, but the junior detective was confident it would bring results. The first name that she ran was that of Jared Smith, the guy seemed friendly enough but Juliet didn't trust him. As soon as he showed up her cop instincts told her that something about him was off. Mrs. Fuller insisted that Jared was a good man, even after mentioning that her husband didn't trust the advisor either. Following her gut Juliet ran his name but came up with nothing, so she resigned herself to making her way through the long list of people who knew about the Fuller's collection of paintings.

She was about halfway through when the sound of hurried sneakers came to her desk. "Jules!" Soon, Shawn Spencer was standing in front of her desk, bouncing on his feet. "Jules I had a vision and it's a big one!" Gus joined his best friend in front of Juliet's desk, looking just as excited.

"Well, what is it Shawn?" Their excitement was rubbing off on her.

"The spirits are telling me that Jared is a very bad man and our murderer-kidnapper."

"Shawn I already ran a background check on him. He doesn't have a record."

"Jared Smith doesn't …. but Jared Cain does." Shawn couldn't keep from smiling when Juliet's eyebrows scrunched together and she stared at him in question.

"You're saying that his name isn't…" she started.

"Nope." Shawn answered before she could finish, "The spirits are making it very clear to me that the man we met today is named Jared Cain and he has a criminal record."

Immediately Juliet was typing the name into her computer and, as usual, Shawn was right. Jared's picture appeared in front of her. "He was arrested for…"

"Embezzlement." The three said at once.

Juliet read from her computer screen, "He was sentenced to 5 years in prison but got out after 2 on good behavior." She laughed, "The guy sure does know how to con people, doesn't he?"

"Jules it all makes sense, the guy gets out of prison and can't resist going back to his dirty deeds. He targets the Fullers and tricks Ilene into hiring him. He tries to con the paintings out of the Fullers his usual way but-"

"The husband doesn't trust him." Juliet added excitedly, standing from her seat.

"Right! So he decides to try a new approach and steal them instead. He hires two thugs to help him and breaks in when the house is supposed to be empty. But he's interrupted, and when his anger gets the better of him, bam!... our embezzler is now a murderer."

"Which means that he's the one that has Riley and Carlton." Juliet said heavily. She couldn't believe it, he was right here. He was right in front of her and she didn't even know it. Suddenly anger shot straight through her, she was going to find this guy and he was going to pay.

She pulled out her phone and dialed Mrs. Fuller's number. Gus sat down at Juliet's desk as the woman answered the phone, _"Hello?"_

"Hello Mrs. Fuller, this is Detective O'Hara."

"_Oh hello Detective, did you find something already? I was-"_

"Mrs. Fuller I need to talk to Jared." she didn't have time to be polite. "I need to ask him some questions." She lied. "Do you know how I could get a hold of him?"

"_Sure, anything to help Detective, let me get his phone number."_

"Thank you" Juliet quickly wrote down the number. "Do you have any idea where I might be able to find him?"

"_Well actually we were supposed to meet later, he was going to help me with some paperwork, but he called a little over an hour ago to cancel. He said he had business to take care of. It must have been urgent, poor thing sounded like he was in such a hurry."_

O'Hara didn't like the sound of that, the man was obviously lying, which meant he was probably headed to only one place. "Thank you Mrs. Fuller." She said before slamming her phone shut. She was starting to feel sick to her stomach, things weren't sounding good.

"What did she say Jules?" Shawn was watching her with concern.

She pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to clear her thoughts, "Jared left town in a hurry." She answered somewhat despairingly.

Shawn leaned heavily against her desk and ducked his head down, "Crap" he said under his breath.

"We have to figure out where he would have taken them. Are you getting anything Shawn?" Juliet asked hopefully

The psychic shook his head, "Sorry Jules"

"He might not have anything, but I do." Gus spoke up from behind the computer. Shawn and Juliet moved behind Gus to look over his shoulder, "According t his file, Jared Cain owned two properties at the time of his arrest. One was a house here in Santa Barbara, which has since been sold, and the other is a cabin about two hours from here."

"A cabin?" Juliet questioned

Gus looked at the screen for a minute, "It looks like its right in the middle of a large wooded area…. I bet it's a hunting cabin. It's the perfect place to take some hostages too; it's extremely secluded and hard to reach." He finished excitedly.

"Nice Gus!" Shawn yelled giving his friend a fist bump.

"That's where there at, I know it is." Every cop instinct that Juliet possessed was screaming at her that this was right. "Good job guys." She yelled over her shoulder as she headed for the Chief's office. "Chief!" Juliet didn't even bother knocking as she burst through the doors. "Chief we found the guy and we think we know where Carlton is."

Vick stood up from her desk, "Are you sure?"

Juliet paused, what if she was wrong? What if- No! She couldn't do that, Carlton was counting on her. "I'm positive Chief."

Vick smiled and nodded. "Alright then let's go." She ordered, heading for the door.

Juliet watched her with a questioning expression, "Chief?" She hadn't expected for Vick to want to go along.

Karen met the Junior Detective's eyes, "Oh if you think I'm going to miss out on finding my Head Detective, and bringing in the idiot that would dare take him from us, you are sorely mistaken O'Hara."

Juliet couldn't stop the smile from coming to her face. She followed Vick out of the office and both women began issuing orders right away. '_Just hold on Carlton' _she thought to herself, hoping Lassiter could hear her, '_we're coming.' _

With food now in his stomach Lassiter was starting to feel a bit better. He was even able to stand and stretch his legs without feeling like he was going to fall over. He worked more at the weakened chain link, but still wasn't quite able to break it. While Carlton was occupying his time with trying to set himself free, he could hear lots of activity going on outside the small room. The two men were moving something out of the cabin. He wasn't sure why, the taller man had said that they still had to wait a few days before they could leave. Something must have happened and it wasn't setting well with Lassiter.

He glanced over at Riley who was sitting next to him playing with her bear. She had tried a couple times to get Carlton to play with her, but gave up when he started lecturing her about how head detectives do not play with toys… they solve crimes, and catch bad guys, and shoot guns. While she played, Riley didn't seem to notice what was going on outside the room. He was glad; the last thing Lassiter wanted was for her to start panicking.

After standing and stretching his tired body, Carlton sat back down on the floor. Riley moved over to lean up against him as she rocked her bear in her arms. "Mr. Lassie, you're feeling better?" she asked.

"Yeah…. I am." He looked down at the little girl as she smiled up at him. She was very proud of herself for helping. "Listen Riley, when we get out of this how about we keep the whole sandwich thing to ourselves, ok?"

The little girl frowned, "why? I didn't do a good job?"

"No, no you did great. I feel much better. I just don't think anyone needs to know."

Riley's eyes started to water. '_Idiot you hurt her feelings,' _he told himself '_Do something before you make it worse.'_ "Please don't cry. I'm proud of you, I'm glad you were here to help me or I would have really been in trouble."

"Really?" she asked in a sniffle.

"Sure" he answered with the best smile he could muster. Riley smiled back and went back to playing with her bear, as if nothing had happened. Lassiter sighed, why did he turn into such a wimp when she started crying?

The loud slam of a car door caught both of their attention. Yelling could be heard far away and it started to come towards the room. Riley moved closer to Carlton, wrapping herself around his arm. The door slammed open, Jared and tall guy came into the room arguing. "You don't need to know why, just do what I tell you!" Jared yelled.

"I do need to know why; I'm in this as much as you are. What is going on? Did you mess up again?"

Jared approached the other man dangerously, "I did not mess up." He growled. Tall guy didn't protest any further, the tone of Jared's voice promised trouble if he did.

Satisfied that he got his point across Jared turned around and stalked towards Lassiter. "What's the matter? You're perfect plan not going so well?" the detective mocked, but his only response received was a glare as Jared reached down and grabbed Riley by the wrist. The little girl shrieked in terror as he pulled her from Carlton.

"No!" she screamed, "Mr. Lassie help!"

"Leave her alone." Lassiter demanded as he began to rise to his feet.

Jared simply turned around and shoved him back to the ground. "I'll deal with you in a minute." He turned back to the other man in the room and handed the frightened girl over. "Take her back to the van and help your friend put the rest of the paintings away."

"What are we going to do with her?" It was the first time tall guy sounded nervous.

"I don't know yet but we've got to get rid of her." Jared answered simply.

The man then looked over at Lassiter, "And what are you going to do with him?"

Jared smirked, "Oh I know exactly what I'm going to do with him." He answered as he pulled a gun from his waistband.

Tall guys eyes widened in horror, but he did as he was told, pulling the girl towards the door. "No! Mr. Lassie!" she yelled again.

Riley's screams for him set a rush of adrenaline straight through Carlton. It was all he needed to decide exactly what he had to do. Lassiter jumped to his feet and rushed forward, towards the two men. When he reached the end of his chain the handcuffs cut deep into his wrists, but he was able to move with enough force to finally break the weakened chain. Jared turned around in surprise. Lassiter twisted his body and planted his shoulder square into Jared's chest, shoving him backwards. He fell into the man that was still holding the frightened girl, throwing both men into the wall. Lassiter heard both Riley and the gun fall to the ground. "Run Riley! Get out of here!" he yelled to the little girl as he kicked the gun away. Riley crawled to the door and rose to her feet but she didn't move any further.

Jared still lay on the floor trying to catch his breath, but the taller man was quick to recover. He got to his feet and moved toward Carlton. The detective had the advantage of surprise before, but now with his hands still cuffed behind his back, he was in trouble. He watched the man closely; as he moved forward he clenched his hands into fists. Carlton anticipated the punch and moved out of the way just before it could contact with his jaw. The man stumbled slightly and Lassiter took advantage of the small moment of delay and kicked hard at the man's legs, knocking them out from under him. He fell hard to the ground, hitting his head and knocking himself out temporarily.

Before Carlton could even catch his breath he heard movement behind him, he turned around to find Jared diving for the gun. Just as his fingers wrapped around the handle Lassiter reached him and kicked the gun from his hand. There was no way he was going to let him get a hold of that. Jared spun around and landed a punch to Carlton's stomach. His breath hitched in his throat, but he moved through the pain pulsing through his already bruised abs, to sidestep another punch. The man's fist barely missed the detective's face. A hit to the head was defiantly something he couldn't afford right now; his brain was already spinning and surging with pain, reminding him that he still had a bad concussion. Another blow would put him out for good.

As Carlton tried to regain his footing, Jared took the opportunity to grab for the gun again. He managed to reach down and rap his right hand around the handle, but as he stood up and turned back toward Lassiter, Carlton charged towards him again. It was a last ditch effort to take the man out before he had the chance to turn the gun on him. He heard the gun go off as he pummeled Jared to the ground. The con man fell straight onto his back, for some reason Carlton stumbled backwards and fell as well. He wasn't sure why he had fallen, everything was happening so fast.

It took a minute for Lassiter to gather his bearings. He managed to keep from hitting his head again, but the fall had left him jostled. He looked over at Jared to see the man dazed and groping for his gun, which lay only a few inches from him. Before he had the chance to grab hold of it again, Lassiter quickly spun his body around lifting his legs and bringing his heel down straight onto the man's chest. The kick knocked the air from his lungs and slipped him into unconsciousness.

Carlton lay still for a moment, he was exhausted and in so much pain. He didn't want to get up again, he didn't know if he could. He was starting to feel weaker. When he turned his head he saw Riley at the door watching him with wide, scared eyes. "Riley go! Get out of here!." He wasn't sure where she would go, but anywhere had to be better than here.

Lassiter focused his attention back on the gun still at Jared's side. A gun, that's exactly what he needed. He always felt better when he had a gun in his hands. Slowly he sat back up and maneuvered himself so he could reach it. He didn't know what good a gun would do with his hands still behind his back, but he just had to have it. As he tried to grab hold of the handle he heard a moan coming from the tall man's direction, he was starting to wake up. Lassiter looked back over at Riley, she still hadn't moved, "I said go! Get some help!"

"No!" she yelled defiantly, it surprised him.

He didn't have time for this, Riley had to leave the two men were waking up and he didn't even know where the third man was. "Riley, I said-"

"No!" she yelled again, "I'm not leaving without you, Mr. Lassie. You have to come too." The girl stared him down, determined. But he still hadn't been able to get a hold on the gun, he couldn't leave without it. After a moment of staring into the girls resistant eyes, Carlton broke down and did the one thing he thought he would never do. He left the gun.

He stood to his feet, fighting the pain that ravaged his entire body, especially his stomach. '_That idiot must have hit me harder than I thought.' _ He told himself as he quickly made his way out of the cabin with Riley at his side. Luckily, nervous guy wasn't anywhere to be seen. Lassiter took in his surroundings outside the cabin. They were in the middle of a heavily wooded area; the only path that lead to the cabin was a small dirt road. He decided not to take the road in fear that it was the first place the men would look for them and they could easily be spotted The rest of the area was very hilly, with lots of trees and bushes. '_Good lots of cover.'_ He thought to himself. He headed for the trees in hopes that it would keep them hidden, Carlton was sure he would be able to find his way through…at least he hoped.

The pair started to make their way as far from the cabin as possible. Riley stayed as close to Lassiter as she could, but was having trouble keeping up with his long strides. Finally, after growing irritated by the slow pace of having to wait for the young girl, he stopped and bent down to his knees. "Come here." He ordered her, Riley obeyed. "Get on my back." He told her, motioning for her to step into his arms. She did as she was told and Lassiter lifted her up, supporting her with his cuffed hands. Riley wrapped her arms tight around his neck, her bear dangling from one hand. He could tell that she was happy to be close to him again. Carlton picked up the pace, carrying the girl, piggy back style, through the woods. He was determined to get her somewhere safe, but it wasn't helping that the pain in his stomach was growing worse by the second.

Jared woke with a gasp. His chest ached and his lungs were burning from having the air knocked from them. As he lay on the dirty floor breathing raggedly, anger boiled deep inside him. He had been humiliated, beaten by his own prisoner. The detective had proven himself to be a much better adversary than originally anticipated, but he would not underestimate him again. The troublesome detective was going to pay dearly.

Jared sat up slowly, he looked around the room. The door was wide open and neither the girl nor detective was there. Off to his right he heard the taller of his hired men getting up from the floor as well, he was holding his head and groaning in pain. The man rose to his feet and stumbled, dizzy from a hit to the head. Jared also got to his feet, he was happy to find his gun still lying next to him. He tucked it back into his waistband and turned to the other man, "You" he snarled, "This is your fault!"

"Me?" the man answered in an angry shock, "You were the one that said you were going to get rid of him. This is your fault."

Before Jared could respond, the shorter man appeared at the door, "What happened?" he asked nervously taking in the scene before him.

Jared redirected his anger on the new target, "Where the hell were you?"

"I…I was packing up the van like you told me." He stuttered "I heard a gunshot but I assumed it was… you know, that you killed the cop. I didn't want anything to do with that."

Jared clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth. "You two are completely useless." He left the room and walked to a cabinet sitting in the main room of the small building, the two men followed. The cabin used to be his father's; when Jared was younger the two of them would come here to go hunting almost every weekend. Now, he knew these woods like the back of his hand. It was only a matter of time before he would find the two captives. He had to find them, it was personal now. Jared reached into the cabinet and pulled out three shotguns. "Here" He grunted, throwing one to each of the men. He left the cabin and headed for the woods, "Split up!" he yelled back to the two men. "We're going hunting."

Shawn bounced eagerly in the back seat, Gus had yelled at him several times to stop moving so much but he couldn't, he was too excited. Sitting still was not an option. Shawn, Gus, Chief Vick, and Juliet were en route to Jared's Cabin, followed by what had to be about half the police force (Juliet and Vick weren't wasting any effort to find their missing Head Detective).

The cabin was about two hours from the police station, but with Juliet driving as fast as she was, Shawn was sure they would actually break some kind of time-space barrier and get there 5 minutes ago. Everyone was ready to bring back the grumpy detective, even Shawn was missing being yelled at every time he came across Lassie's path. He especially missed picking on the overly strict man; Shawn would have to make up for lost time when he got back. Because they were going to bring him back. They had to.

Carlton wasn't sure how long he had been running. It felt like hours, but in reality was probably more like 15 minutes. He was so tired; his energy seemed to be draining from him with each step. He had to stop and rest. Lassiter hadn't heard any sounds of pursuit since they left the cabin. He figured it would be safe to stop, just for a few minutes.

He found a good spot that seemed to hide them well, but also allow him to see if anyone might be coming. Lassiter let the girl down and sat, leaning against a tree. He was breathing hard and the dull pain in his stomach had grown more intense, making his entire right side feel as if it were on fire. Something was very, very wrong.

Riley was standing next to him, watching with worried eyes as Carlton's face twisted with pain, "Mr. Lassie?"

"Riley, I need you to do me a favor." He told her, "there's something wrong with my right side, can you move my coat so I can see what's wrong."

She nodded and grabbed hold of his suit jacket, pulling it to the side. The girl gasped and backed away quickly, "Mr. Lassie!" she yelled "You're bleeding!"

He looked down at his stomach; the entire side of his usually perfect white shirt was covered in blood. His blood. And in the middle of it all, about 3 inches above the waistband of his pants, was a bullet hole. He'd been shot. Carlton groaned and lay his head back against the tree, "Well that's just great."

**Chapter End**


	5. Chapter 5:Mr Teddykins Saves the Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 5: Mr. Teddykins saves the day**

Lassiter wasn't sure when he had been shot. He vaguely remembered the sound of Jared's gun going off sometime during their fight, but he didn't recall felling any pain when the bullet hit him. Everything had happened so fast and the adrenaline rush had blocked out everything. He had placed his entire focus on getting Riley out of the cabin safely, nothing else was important at the time.

But now, the adrenaline was gone, for the moment the danger was gone, and his focus had nowhere to go but to the pain. The low, dull hurt he had felt before, now became sharp and excruciating. It felt as if someone had lit his stomach on fire, and each breath added more sparks to the blaze. He had lost a lot of blood, and it was draining every remaining ounce of energy along with it. Panic began to set in, he was going to die out here…. no one would ever find them…. he couldn't save Riley.

Lassiter pushed all those thoughts aside as his cop instincts kicked into gear. He had control, he could figure this out. He sat as still as he could and slowed his breathing, it helped to clear his thoughts and push away the pain. Carlton looked over at Riley; she stood back away from him, frightened by the sight of the blood. With his hands still cuffed firmly behind him he was going to need her help.

He took a deep breath and cleared his throat, "Riley." The girl jumped, her eyes finally snapping away from the blood coming from Lassiter's side. "Come over here." The words came out of his mouth sounding much weaker than he wanted.

"Mr. Lassie your bleeding!" she squealed, as if realizing it for the first time. "I don't want you to die!" she yelled as she started to cry.

"I'm not going to die; you promised me you were going to be brave." He scolded her weakly.

Riley covered her face with her hands and continued crying, "I don't want you to die!" she repeated.

Lassiter sighed, "Riley loot at me." Slowly she removed her hands and looked at him through teary eyes. He didn't want to say what was about to come out of his mouth but he knew it would get the girl to cooperate. "I'm not going to die if…if you take care of me. Can you take care of me? Like you did before."

Immediately she stopped crying and smiled at him, "Yes Mr. Lassie I'll take care of you. I'll make you all better." She told him excitedly. There was something about being useful and needed that made Riley happy. She came over and knelt at his side, placing her bear on the ground. She looked up at him expectantly, waiting for instruction.

"Good. We need to slow the bleeding or I'm going to be in trouble." Carlton tried to explain it as simply as possible. "There's a handkerchief in my coat pocket, it might help."

Riley reached into his pocket and pulled out the cloth. She held it in her hands and looked down at the wound. "I don't want to hurt you." She told him quietly.

"It's ok, you won't." He lied.

Following Lassiter's directions she folded up the cloth, laid it gently over the bullet hole, and pressed down. He tried not to wince too much when the small amount of pressure sent a bolt of pain up his side. The handkerchief seemed to slow the bleeding for a minute, but as the small cloth quickly filled with blood it soon became useless.

"I'm sorry", Riley said quietly as she dropped the now worthless cloth to the ground. She picked up her bear and hugged it to her chest.

"It's ok", he told her "we can try something else, maybe-"

"Mr. Teddykins can help!" the little girl interrupted suddenly, holding out the bear in front of her.

Carlton glared at her, he couldn't believe she wanted to do this now of all times. "Riley I already told you I'm not going to play with you, and I don't think that now is really the best time for-"

Riley rolled her eyes at him, "No!" she interrupted again, "Mr. Teddykins can help." Without any further explanation, she took her prized teddy bear and placed it over Lassiter's injury, pressing down. Surprised, Carlton flinched, but the little girl held the bear firm. After a few minutes, the stuffed animal was successful at slowing the bleeding.

"Good job," he told her with a small smile, she was a smart girl. Her focus remained on holding the bear steady. "Can you tie a knot?" he asked her.

"Kind of." She answered, finally looking up at him. "why?"

"I want you to tie the bear down so you don't have to hold it. Can you do that?"

"Yes." She sounded much more confident now.

"Take off my tie and wrap it around the bear and my stomach, and tie it nice and tight, ok?"

"ok." It took her several minutes to undo the knot in the tie and even longer to get it wrapped around him. The entire time she worked with determination, she didn't want to let him down.

Carlton wished he could help her; he hated just sitting there while she worked hard to keep him alive. But with his hands cuffed and now a hole in his side he was practically useless. He hated feeling useless.

Riley finished tying the tie as tight as she could. Lassiter would have liked it tighter, but she had done her best. The bear had slowed the bleeding for the time being, hopefully giving the wound time to clot. "I'm proud of you Riley." He told her as she sat down next to him. "You did a good job."

"Thank you. You'll be all better now?"

"Yeah….. I'll be all better." He hoped it was true.

The two sat leaning against the tree, it was starting to grow late in the afternoon. The sun peaked gently through the trees as the birds chirped and flew around above their heads. Somewhere in the distance the sound of a small river floated to their ears. It was almost…. peaceful. But Lassiter knew that the men would be awake by now and most likely out looking for them. Even as he rested, Lassiter kept his ears open for any sound that told him someone might be coming.

But he was tired…so tired. He could feel his eyelids growing heavy. Everything around him was starting to disappear as he unintentionally dozed off. He was woken only mere seconds later by a poke in the arm from Riley. She was looking at him with concerned eyes. "What?" he said defensively, "I was just resting my eyes, I'm fine."

She rolled her eyes at him, obviously not believing his lie. He couldn't help but laugh (even thought it hurt like hell when he did), his skepticism was rubbing off on her.

"Ok Riley, we better get moving again." They couldn't afford to sit still for long. Lassiter moved to get up from the ground, every effort he used to diminish the pain vanished with that one small movement. A small whine of pain escaped from his lips, he tried to hide it from the girl, Carlton Lassiter did not whine.

But she heard it and was instantly to her feet. "Mr. Lassie careful." She chided him and grabbed his arm to help him.

"I'm fine." Carlton said again through gritted teeth. He rose to his feet agonizingly slow, and the small task left him exhausted.

They started to move through the woods again. The pace was slow but this time it wasn't because of the little girl, it was because of him. Every step was painful, but he was committed to finding his way through these woods and getting Riley to safety. Her teddy bear was doing its job and keeping the bleeding to a minimum, she sacrificed her one prized possession for him. As they walked she stuck close to his side holding his arm as if to keep him steady. He was starting to get used to having her around, which worried him. Was it possible he was getting soft? No, not possible, he was not soft.

Juliet skidded the car to a halt in front of the small hunting cabin. It had been a rough ride up the small dirt road leading to the building, especially since Juliet didn't slow down at all. Shawn jumped from the car happy to be out of the metal death trap. Gus looked just as relieved as he rolled out, several times as they traversed the bumpy, winding road it looked as if he was about to lose his taco breakfast.

As soon as they were out of the car, O'Hara and Vick immediately had their guns drawn and took off for the cabin. Shawn and Gus stayed back as the two women entered the open door. The area seemed deserted of life but Shawn noticed a large van still parked around the back.

"Clear!" came Juliet's voice before she came out to get them. "There's no one here." she let out a deep sigh as she holstered her gun.

Shawn followed the female detective back inside; he took in every detail of the small space. The entrance led into a larger main room, two doors on the far wall led to a bathroom and a small side room. The main room only held a sofa, desk and empty gun cabinet on one side, and a small kitchen area on the other. Everything looked pretty old and worn but had been recently used. The three walked to the small room where Chief Vick was waiting.

Shawn's observation skills kicked in; instantly he noticed a blood stain near the wall, the recently broken chain, scuffle marks in the dirt on the floor, and a few drops of blood in the middle of the room. All of the pieces dropped into place as he went through the clues in his mind.

"I can see it!" the fake psychic yelled, grabbing everyone's attention. His fingers went to his temple. "I can see what happened here!"

Juliet, Vick, and Gus were all watching him closely. He pretended to blindly stumble over to the chain and threw his hands behind his back. "Lassie was right here, they had him chained to the wall so he couldn't escape. But there's no way some teeny tiny chain could hold our Lassie-face, he broke free!" He emphasized his point by yanking his arms out from behind him, breaking his own invisible chains. "There was a fight" he continued, flailing around, fighting an invisible enemy. "And the Lassinator fought off the men, escaping with the little girl."

Shawn ran out of the room with his audience in tow. The main room was beginning to fill with officers, all with their eyes on the psychic. Shawn looked around the room, his eyes fell on the empty gun cabinet, he could tell that three guns had been removed recently. His heart sank into his stomach, that wasn't good. Shawn spun around to face Juliet and Vick; he was unable to hide his apprehension. "He took off towards the woods and they followed him." He said as he pointed to the cabinet. The looks on their faces told him they understood.

Chief Vick took over, "Alright everyone, this is a search and rescue. You know the drill!" Everyone exited the cabin as she continued, "Everyone split up into teams of three. We're searching every inch of this forest. We are looking for Detective Lassiter and the 8 year old girl. The three kidnappers are out there as well, they are armed and dangerous." Vick paused momentarily, and sighed. "Do not be afraid to use any force deemed necessary to take them down. Everyone must stay in constant contact, safety is a necessity. That is an order!" All of the officers reached for their radios to make sure they worked; Juliet retrieved her own from the car.

Chief Vick and two other officers stayed at the cabin using it as a makeshift headquarter as the others split off in every direction. Shawn and Gus tagged along with Juliet, Mcnabb and a third officer. Shawn pointed them in the direction that he was certain Lassiter had taken. As the five of them made their way through the woods no one said anything, they all kept their concentration on the area around them. Listening and looking for any signs of life. The officers kept their guns drawn in case they came across one of the kidnappers. Shawn's own sense of observation was in overdrive, he was taking in practically every detail of the forest, looking for clues. If anything screamed 'Lassie was here', he would find it.

Jared made his way through the forest with ease. He had hunted in this area for years; he followed the detective's trail like any other prey he would track with his father. The weight of the shotgun in his hands felt right to him, he never realized how thrilling it could be to hunt down another man instead of some stupid animal.

Jared had never thought of himself as a killer before. He had always seen himself as high class, sophisticated, better than most if you asked him. But when he took that man's life during the burglary something inside him enjoyed it….and craved more. He liked the power it gave him. As he continued quietly hunting down his prey that's all he could think about. How good it would feel to finally exert his power over the man that was causing him so much trouble. To put a bullet straight through him.

A bloodied cloth he had come across told him he must have put a bullet in the detective already. The guy was good, he was tough, but Jared knew he was better. With a wound that bad the detective would be moving slow, he wouldn't have any problem catching up.

The area was full of steep hills; Jared chose to stay on high ground for the vantage point. He kept his eyes peeled for any sign of his two escaped captives. He came to the edge of a small cliff that dropped off about 20 feet. He walked along the ledge; it provided a good view of a large open area only spotted by a few trees. And that's exactly where he saw them, the detective and the girl appeared in the open about 200 feet from the cliff.

'_This is just too good.' _He thought as he raised the gun to take aim. The detective was moving slowly, the little girl clinging to his side. He was hoping for a bit more of a challenge, but this would have to do. It probably wasn't a good idea to kill the cop; they would know that it was him. But none of that mattered anymore as he lined up his shot perfectly with his victim's head. Nothing else mattered as he pulled the trigger.

The call had come across the radios that the two henchmen had been apprehended, but there had still been no sign of Jared. Juliet was moving as fast as she could, keeping her eyes open for any signs of Carlton. She was glad that she had decided to where her sensible, comfy shoes today, her usual heels would have slowed her down, defiantly not something she wanted right now.

She really didn't know where she was going; they were basically following Shawn's lead. Juliet was more than thankful for the psychic's abilities at the moment. Lassiter may not like or even believe in Shawn's methods, but it might just be those abilities that would save his life.

"Jules!" Shawn shouted at her from off to her left.

Juliet ran to his side, "What is it Shawn?" Shawn looked at her excitedly and held something out in his hand. Her own spirits rose until she saw what was in his hand. He was holding a handkerchief, Lassiter's handkerchief, Lassiter's blood-soaked handkerchief. "Shawn what….. this isn't good." She tried to not sound as angry as she felt.

Shawn smiled, "yes it is Jules! It means that Lassie is close… and he's still alive." Thank goodness for the man's eternal optimism. Juliet nodded and followed after Shawn as he began moving again, "He's close, I know it, we just have to-"

BAM!

The sound of the gun shot startled all of them. It came from the direction they were heading. Shawn and Juliet exchanged a quick look, with mirroring expressions of dread and worry. The two took off in a dead run as another gunshot rang out.

Lassiter was beginning to feel sleepy again, he was wondering if it were possible to fall asleep while walking. Riley clung to his arm, doing her best to hold him steady. He didn't even realize that he was wavering until the little girl grunted when he accidently shifted all of his weight on to her. "Mr. Lassie are you ok?" she asked, pushing up against him. He balanced himself back on his own legs.

He was happy they were finally walking on flat ground. They were forced to walk downhill most of the way through the hilly woods. Lassiter would have preferred to stay on high ground, it would have been the better plan to stay away from his pursuers, but he was unable to climb the steep inclines. He was relieved to finally come across the flat, open area. Who would have known that a gunshot wound would tire him out so much.

"Should we stop?" the little girl asked again. He could tell that Riley was worried about him, but he really didn't want to slow down, especially in the open. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine!" he snapped, but regretted it right away when it sent a shot of pain through him. He stopped walking, "maybe…maybe just a minute." Riley stood in front of him as he tried to catch his breath and steady himself, his legs were beginning to feel like jelly beneath him.

The little girl reached for the bear covering his wound and adjusted it. "Is Mr. Teddykins helping?" She really did like taking care of him, she kind of reminded him of O'Hara sometimes. They were both like an annoying mother, nagging him to be more careful. He wasn't a child; he didn't need to be told what to do. "Sit down Mr. Lassie, you need to rest, you're hurt."

"Riley, I said I'm fine. I just need to-" But she wasn't going to be ignored, she pulled gently at his arm, urging him to sit down. The tug set him off balance on his unsteady feet, he pitched forward and landed on his knees just as the ground beside him exploded and a gunshot rang through the trees. Riley screamed at the sound, a bullet had missed hitting Carlton in the head by mere inches. She had saved his life.

He heard a curse come from far off to his right, it sounded familiar. "Riley run!" Lassiter shouted, he could see Jared standing on a cliff just a few hundred feet away. He was aiming a shotgun straight at them.

Carlton struggled to get back to his feet, as Riley ran to his side. "Mr. Lassie! What is that? I'm scared." She grabbed hold of his arm again. "Riley run, you have to-" He finally got to his feet but staggered backwards when dizziness hit him. The ground exploded again with another near miss. He took off running towards any form of cover he could find, he yelled for Riley to stay in front of him to keep her safe. The sound of another gunshot followed him.

The closest thing that offered any sort of relief was a tree not much wider than Lassiter himself. He took cover and pushed Riley as close to the tree as possible. He leaned against it with the little girl behind him. His side was burning from the run, threatening to make him pass out.

The pain was blinding, he began to waver as everything grew fuzzy, but a bullet struck the tree merely inches from his head snapping him back to full alertness. "Give it up Detective," came a shout from the gunman. "There's nowhere to run." Jared sounded as full of himself as ever, it made Lassiter as mad as the first time he heard the cocky man speak. "If you come out now I'll let the little girl live, and maybe, just maybe let you live too."

Carlton wanted to tell him to forget it, there was no way he was going to make a deal with a murderer, but at the moment he could barely breathe let alone yell. So he settled for silence to be his answer, he knew there was no way Jared would keep to his word. "Fine" Jared replied "I like it this way better, it's much more fun." A gunshot sounded off, taking out another chunk of the tree. The bullet hit further to the right than the first one, Jared was moving, most likely trying to find a way down from the cliff.

There was no hope of outrunning him. Lassiter could barely move anymore, his energy was gone, the last of it used up in the run to the tree. Riley was cowering behind him, terrified by the sound of the gun. He was so tired and hurt so much, his mind was a blank; he didn't know what to do. Another chunk of the tree exploded, sending bark raining over the two of them. This was it…this was how it was going to end for him. But there was no way he was going to go down without a fight; he could at least get the girl out of here.

But before he could even formulate a plan, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard hit his ears. "Freeze! Drop your weapon now!" Juliet yelled.

**Chapter End**


	6. Chapter 6: Piggy Back Rides for Everyone

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 6: Piggy Back Rides for Everyone**

"Freeze! Drop your weapon now!" Juliet yelled. She watched as Jared went rigid, his back was to them and he still had his gun raised. He had been firing down the cliff at a tree; she could only guess that it hid her missing partner. She had her own gun trained on him for a fatal shot; if his trigger finger even twitched he would regret it. "Put the gun on the ground nice and slow" she ordered. McNabb and the second officer stood on each side of her, their guns also trained on the man, Shawn and Gus stood just behind them.

Jared lowered his gun but didn't put it down, "Detective O'Hara, so nice to see you again." He sounded calm and cheerful, it irritated her. "This isn't what it looks like, I was just-"

"Drop the gun, or I will shoot you!" she shouted, sounding much like the head detective himself. Juliet didn't want to listen to him talk any longer, nothing but lies came from the man's mouth. There was no way he was going to con his way out of this one.

"Easy, easy….let me just explain." He tried again to talk his way out. Juliet was quickly losing her patience.

"Drop. Your weapon. Now." The murderous tone in her voice finally had Jared lowering the gun to the ground. As soon as Jared's hands were off the weapon, Shawn and Gus took off running to find a way around the steep cliff and to the bullet filled tree. Juliet wanted more than anything to follow after them, but her cop training told her the suspect must first be apprehended. "Hands where I can see them and turn around slowly." She ordered.

Jared obeyed but still wouldn't stop talking "Listen, Detective, you look like a smart woman. If you let me go, I'm sure we could work out some sort of deal that would benefit you greatly."

She signaled for McNabb to pat Jared down and cuff him. Once he did, Juliet couldn't control her anger any longer. She stalked towards Jared and made herself as imposing as any cop before her, "You killed a man, kidnapped an innocent little girl, hurt my partner...… and you would dare ask me to let you go?"

"Um….yes?" he answered, shrinking under her wrath.

She glared at him, burning a hole straight through his head. He shrank back even more, clearly receiving his answer. "McNabb get him away from me before I shoot him."

The young cop nodded, he and the other officer led Jared back through the woods towards the cabin. Juliet quickly took off in the direction Shawn and Gus had taken. She knew she could count on Buzz to get the con man back without any problems, right now she had to go find her partner.

It only took Shawn a minute to find a way down the steep cliff. A couple times he almost tripped, taking Gus down with him, but they managed to make it to the open area. They headed straight for the tree Jared had been firing at. When they got there, Lassiter was leaning against it. He was standing but his eyes were closed, he looked like he was sleeping. Riley was crouched down behind him, safely tucked between the tree and his legs.

"Lassie!" Shawn shouted.

Carlton jumped, his eyes snapping open. He looked over at Shawn and Gus completely unfocused. "Spencer?" his face scrunched together in question.

"Lassie you're okay." He was relieved that Lassiter had responded.

"Dude, you are okay aren't you? You look terrible." Gus said. Shawn took in the detective's appearance; it definitely wasn't how he was used to seeing the stern detective. His hair was messy and his clothes were rumpled and dirty. He had a deep gash on his right temple, and dried blood matted his hair and face. The right side of his clothes also had blood on them, where had the blood come from? It couldn't be Lassie's; he looked fine, if not a little tired. Actually he looked completely exhausted.

For some reason Carlton was holding his arms behind him. Shawn looked and saw that his hands were still cuffed together, "Dude!" he said excitedly. "Did you fight those guys off with your hands tied behind your back? That is so cool!" Lassiter smiled and let out a little laugh, but as soon as he did his eyes clenched shut again and his face contorted in pain. Shawn grabbed hold of his arm when he began to sway, "Lassie are you ok?"

Suddenly Riley popped out from behind Carlton, "He's hurt." She explained as she stood to her feet. "But Mr. Teddykins is making him feel all better."

Shawn raised an eyebrow at her, "What?"

The little girl moved aside Lassiter's suit jacket revealing her bear, tied to Lassiter's stomach, soaked in blood. Gus backed up and covered his mouth, grossed out by the sudden sight.

"A teddy bear?" Shawn said. He couldn't believe it, Lassiter had a teddy bear strapped to his stomach. "What happened?"

"I got shot Spencer." Lassiter finally spoke up even though his eyes were still closed.

Juliet finally caught up to them; she came to a stop beside Shawn and let out a loud gasp. She took in the state of her partner, "Oh my gosh! Carlton!"

"Lassie got shot Jules!" Shawn yelled maybe a little too loud at her. He knew he was panicking, but he didn't know what to do, he'd never been in this situation before. He'd never had a friend bleeding out in front of him. "What do we do?"

Juliet took a deep breath; she had been trained for this. But it was different when it was actually happening, and when it was happening to someone you cared about. Shawn noticed her hands shaking as she reached into her pocket and pulled out some keys; "Here" she said, taking charge "unlock his cuffs and get him to sit down." Juliet pulled out her radio and started yelling into it for an ambulance.

Shawn gently moved Lassiter forward and unlocked the cuffs. Carlton winced when they came off; his wrists were bloody and swollen from the constant pull of the restraints. "Sit down Lassie." Shawn ordered.

"No" he responded breathlessly, "If I sit down I won't be able to get back up, we have to keep moving or Jared will find us."

Juliet finished talking into the radio and came over, placing her hand on his arm she started rubbing it, trying to soothe him. "It's okay Carlton, we got Jared, you guys are safe now."

"I have to get Riley somewhere safe." He told her, not really hearing what she said. Lassie was losing it.

"We will Carlton, I promise." Juliet was using a gentle, motherly voice when she talked to Lassie, which for some reason worried Shawn. Especially since he wasn't yelling at her to stop talking to him that way. "Shawn, Gus we have to get Carlton back to the cabin, the ambulance will be a while and the paramedics won't find us easily out here." She explained. "I think it would be best for us to come to them. It looks like he can walk so that's good."

Juliet reached for the bear on Lassiter's side, and started to move it so she could check his wound, but before she could Riley grabbed her hand. "No!" the little girl shrieked, "If you move it Mr. Lassie will die!"

"It's ok." Juliet said in the same voice she had used with Lassie, "I'm just going to check it, I'll put it right back I promise." After a few seconds Riley let go of Juliet's hand so she could look over the injury. The look on her face told them it probably wasn't good. "Did you do this?" she asked Riley, pointing to the bear as she put it back.

"Yes I did." She answered proudly. "I took good care of Mr. Lassie."

"You certainly did. I'm just going to tighten it a little, is that ok?" the girl nodded and Juliet moved around Lassiter to tie the bear down tighter. "This might hurt a little Carlton." She pulled on the tie and tied it as tight as she could. Lassiter gasped and swayed a bit but Shawn held him steady.

"Ok" Juliet said, stepping back. She lifted a shaky hand and moved some strands of hair that had fallen into her face. It wasn't hard to tell she was worried about her partner. The entire time she worked Lassie just stared blankly ahead, not quite aware what was going on around him. She looked at Shawn and Gus, "It's not bleeding too badly, but we need to be careful not to bump the wound. We don't want it to reopen."

"Ok Lassie, let's get moving." Shawn tried his best to sound cheerful. He gently picked up Lassiter's right arm and draped it around his shoulders for support.

Carlton tried to weakly push him away. "I know how to walk Spencer."

A smile broke out on Shawn's face. "Hey buddy welcome back." He held Lassiter's arm firm and wrapped his free arm around the detective's waist. "But no can do, you've got a nice little hole in your side. I think you could use some help." Lassiter scowled at him but stopped trying to fight him off.

Juliet grabbed hold of Lassiter's left arm to help support him from that side but Gus stopped her. "Let me do it Juliet, you should probably lead the way." Gus lifted Carlton's arm and mirrored Shawn's stance.

Juliet reached out her hand to Riley, "Are you ready?" the little girl hesitated to take it. "We need to get Mr. Lassie back so we can get him all fixed up." Riley looked over at Carlton with concern, finally she grabbed hold of Juliet's hand and they all started moving.

The pace was slow and awkward. Lassiter was in a lot of pain, leaving most of the walking up to Shawn and Gus. Carlton leaned heavily on the two and kept tripping over his own feet. He was exhausted and constantly faded in and out of awareness. He repeated several times the need to get Riley to safety. The little girl herself kept a constant eye on Lassie, she had grown attached to the grumpy detective and must have felt responsible for him.

The hilly terrain created a problem for them. Lassiter traveled mostly downhill the first time, which meant they had to climb up several to get back. With each hill Shawn could feel Carlton's weight leaning on him more and more, until he finally collapsed pulling Shawn and Gus to the ground with him.

"Mr. Lassie!" Riley yelled running to his side.

Lassiter was breathing heavily, "I'm sorry." He said through deep breaths, "Just go…. get Riley out of here."

"We're not leaving you Carlton." Juliet told him sternly, "So stop playing the hero. We'll just rest a little."

"Yeah, Lassie, get some rest. We'll be out of this awful forest in no time." Shawn panted. He stayed lying on the ground, he was pretty tired himself.

They all sat still for a moment before Juliet checked her watch and ordered them back to their feet. Shawn and Gus got on either side of Lassiter to help him back up, but he didn't move. "C'mon Lassie" Shawn said encouragingly.

But Lassiter just shook his head, "Too tired" he whispered. The blood loss and run through the woods finally caught up to him.

"You have to get up, please Carlton." Juliet pleaded with him, but he just closed his eyes. She dropped to her knees next to him. "No! Stay awake, stay with me." She patted him gently on the side of his face, making his eyes open a little. Shawn stood back watching the two of them, Juliet's eyes filled with tears as her partner was slipping away from her.

The usually strong and fearless head detective looked so small as he lay on the ground breathing sharply and writhing in pain. Lassie was his rival in every way, the force that pushed back against him. Shawn knew that the two of them fought like cats and dogs, but he hated seeing Lassiter like this. He had always made his investigations more challenging, and despite what most thought, Shawn liked that. He hated when things were too simple, it wasn't any fun. Lassiter never fell for his tricks easily; He always had to work harder to get the detective to do what he wanted. Shawn didn't want to lose that, he didn't want to lose the challenge, and he didn't want to lose Lassie. He had to do something.

He had to get Lassiter back to the cabin or he was going to die out here, and Shawn was not going to let that happen. He knew what he had to do, but it wasn't going to be easy. "Gus give me a hand." He said as he walked over and crouched down next to Carlton.

Gus and Juliet looked at him with a questioning glare. Shawn grabbed Lassiter's arm and pulled him into a sitting position, Lassie's eyes clenched shut and he let out a small cry of pain. "Shawn what are you doing!" Juliet yelled at him and tried to pry him from the detective. "You're hurting him."

"I know Jules." He responded simply, ignoring her attempts to stop him. "It's the last thing I want to do but we have to get him back, right now. He doesn't have time to rest anymore." He pulled Lassiter towards him. "And I'm going to get him there even if I have to carry him."

Gus finally realized what he was trying to do and went to his side to gently lift Carlton off the ground. Shawn turned around and Gus helped him settle the head detective's lanky frame onto the psychics back. Lassiter was clenching his teeth, stifling his cries as they moved him. "Shawn!" Juliet said surprised. "You….you're actually going to carry him."

He tried not to be hurt by her disbelief; he too, was actually surprised at what he was doing. "Yeah well, you know, Lassie just really looked like he wanted a piggy back ride. You can have next but you might have to fight Gus for it." Shawn adjusted Lassiter and picked up his legs from the ground. The detective's long limbs proved to be a bit of a problem. He had to lean forward to keep Carlton's feet from touching the ground, even with him sitting high on Shawn's waist. His arms dangled loosely around Shawn's shoulders, and Lassiter's head was leaning against his own. With the detective so close, Shawn could hear just how shallow and ragged his breathing was, but for the moment he was just glad that Lassiter was, in fact, breathing.

"This is great, this is wonderful." Juliet said excitedly as she ran to his side to help. "Thank you Shawn."

"Are you sure about this? Lassie is skinny, but he's still heavy." Gus asked as he watched his friend struggle under the weight.

"Of course I can, I'm much stronger than I look Gus, you know that."Shawn started walking just to prove his point.

Gus let out a snort, "Right, just last week I asked you to help me move my couch and you complained you were worn out after moving it only a foot."

Before Shawn could defend himself Riley ran up to him and tugged on his shirt, "Mr. Shawn be careful with Mr. Lassie, he's hurt."

The little girl was watching Lassiter with concern, he seemed to be awake and conscious, but hadn't responded to anyone in a while. "I will, I promise." He reassured her. Juliet took hold of Riley's hand and the two led the way. Shawn followed behind them and Gus brought up the rear, helping to hold Lassiter steady.

The sun was starting to set, cooling it off a bit in the woods. Shawn was thankful because he was sweating and growing tired just from the walk alone. After only a few minutes Lassiter began to slip lower on his hips, Shawn stopped and hiked him higher to keep his feet from dragging on the ground. It was a bad idea, Carlton let out a loud cry of pain after the sudden movement. "Sorry Lassie" Shawn said, quickly realizing his mistake.

Juliet and Riley whipped around, "Mr. Shawn!" the angry little girl scolded him loudly, "You promised!"

"I'm sorry." He said again.

"Be careful Shawn." Juliet scolded too.

"I'm sorry." Again.

Juliet gave Lassiter a quick inspection and they all started moving again. Lassie buried his head into Shawn's shoulder and he could hear muffled whines coming from the great head detective. Something was wrong but Shawn didn't want to stop moving, they were almost there.

While they were walking Shawn could feel the right side of his back starting to grow wet. It was exactly where Lassiter's injury was resting. Jostling the detective had reopened the wound, and the blood soaked bear was now failing at stopping the blood from flowing onto Shawn's shirt.

Shawn didn't stop walking, now more than ever he had to get Lassie back to the cabin as soon as possible. The ambulance had to be there by now, waiting for them. And if he told Juliet she would want to stop to help her partner. She kept glancing back to check on him and Shawn could see worry settle over her when Lassiter hid his face to mask the pain. Even in the state that he was in Lassiter was still trying to play the tough guy.

Even though he was worn out Shawn picked up the pace. And when the cabin finally came into view, relief washed over him. He was quickly met by the EMT's, who helped him lower Carlton onto a stretcher. He did it, he got Lassiter there, he was going to be ok now. They carried the detective away and Shawn let out a deep sigh. He could feel Gus' hand on his shoulder "You did good Shawn, you did real good."

He didn't look at his friend, he kept watching the paramedics. "Yeah…. he's going to be ok now ….he is going to be ok right?"

Juliet's stomach twisted into a knot as they carried her partner to the ambulance. She had noticed the blood stain on Shawn's back when they removed Carlton from him. His wound was bleeding again. Lassiter looked much paler than usual, and she remembered how cold he felt when she was trying to keep him awake. Carlton was always so strong, he was her mentor and she looked up to him. But lying there he seemed so fragile, like he would break into a million pieces just because she touched him. She stood next to Carlton and grabbed hold of his hand to make sure that it wasn't really going to happen. She wanted so badly for him to open his eyes and start yelling at everyone to stop fussing over him and get back to work. She wanted him to be Lassiter again.

Vick's hand appeared on her shoulder making her jump; she pulled Juliet out of the way so the paramedics could do their job. They placed an oxygen mask over his face and put several tubes into his arm. Juliet was still holding Riley's hand; she looked down at her and noticed the little girl crying. Juliet crouched down and hugged her, "He's going to be ok." She whispered. Riley wrapped her arms around Juliet's neck and squeezed tightly.

When she let go, Riley stopped crying and wiped her eyes. "I promised Mr. Lassie I would be brave."

Juliet smiled and stood back up. They were loading Carlton into the ambulance. "One person can come." One of the paramedics said. She looked at Vick who nodded, giving the okay.

Juliet climbed into the back and Riley followed after. "I'm sorry Riley you can't come." She picked up the girl and set her back outside.

"No!" Riley shouted and attempted to climb back in.

Chief Vick caught hold of her and pulled her back. "You can ride with me to the hospital. Would you like that?"

"No!" she shouted again, fighting against Karen. "I promised Mr. Lassie I would take care of him too. I have to go."

Juliet looked at her sympathetically, then turned to the paramedic, "She has to go to the hospital to get checked out too. Can't she ride with us?"

The paramedic took one look at the defiant girl and sighed, "Fine, but you're responsible for her." Vick lifted Riley back into the ambulance; she ran to Juliet and jumped into her lap.

"We'll be right behind you Jules!" Shawn yelled as he and Gus ran to Juliet's car.

The paramedic slammed the door shut and the ambulance took off. Juliet and Riley sat on Lassiter's left while the two EMT's worked on his right side. They tore off the blood soaked bear and cut open his shirt. Juliet noticed that his stomach and ribs were beginning to badly bruise, she was sure she had Jared to thank for that. Watching them work on the bullet wound made her stomach churn. She forced her attention back to Lassiter's face. He was breathing unevenly beneath the mask, but he had finally slipped into unconsciousness. At least he wasn't feeling the pain anymore.

Juliet picked up Lassiter's hand and rubbed it soothingly. She knew he couldn't feel it, but it made her feel better. She tried to ignore just how cold he felt. Riley watched Juliet for a while before she wrapped her own hands around Lassiter's fingers. The two sat together holding Carlton's hand while the paramedics worked. Juliet had been trying so hard not to cry since this whole thing started. '_Cops don't cry'_ she could hear Lassiter telling her. So she kept herself busy instead. But now, with nothing to do but sit and watch as her partner fought for his life, the tears came, and she didn't try to stop them.

**Chapter End**


	7. Chapter 7:Mr Lassie meet Mr Lassie

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 7: Mr. Lassie meet Mr. Lassie**

He was tired. His mind drifted, lazily, in a fog. Where the hell was he? He wanted so badly just to go back to sleep. But he forced his groggy mind focus; he had to figure out what was going on. He could be in danger.

What was the last thing he remembered? There were trees, and gunshots….and the little girl…. Riley! Where was Riley? What happened? Everything was fuzzy. The only thing else he could remember was feeling like he was floating, the ground passing by underneath him.

Lassiter focused, his eyelids felt like lead, they refused to open. He could hear a few things around him, a voice far off, and a slight rhythmic beep. Judging by the extremely uncomfortable pillow beneath his head and the feeling of a plastic mask covering his mouth, he was in a hospital. He hated hospitals, well; more specifically he hated being a patient in a hospital. It was annoying.

Carlton summoned enough strength to open his heavy eyelids. He stared at the sterile, white ceiling, yup defiantly a hospital. Why was he in a hospital? When his slow mind finally remembered the blinding concussion and gunshot in his side, the dull pain of each worked its way to his brain. He let out a small groan but the plastic mask swallowed it up.

He heard light breathing coming from off to his right side. Lassiter slowly turned his head to find the source of the noise. He was surprised at what he found, reclined in a rather uncomfortable looking chair, was a sleeping Juliet O'Hara. She had her legs propped up on the side of Lassiter's bed and Riley lay curled up in her lap, also fast asleep. Carlton felt instantly relieved, they were both safe. He couldn't stop the small grin that came across his lips. The sight was almost sickingly sweet, but it made him happy all the same.

The moment was interrupted by a snore to his left. Lassiter turned his head and was welcomed by Shawn Spencer, also reclined in a chair with his feet propped on the bed, and also fast asleep. Carlton was not happy at this sight. He gave the sleeping man his best glare before facing the ceiling again.

He lay in silence, relieved that things were okay, but still unnerved by the fact that he couldn't remember much. The oxygen mask over his mouth and nose began to irritate him. He lifted a shaky hand to remove the stupid thing; it took a much bigger effort than it should have. The small movement woke the little girl. "Mr. Lassie!" she yelled, a bright smile breaking out on her face. She jumped down from Juliet's lap and ran to his side.

Riley's shout woke the other two sleeping visitors. Shawn startled and quickly wiped some drool from his face. "Lassie whatsup? You're awake."

Juliet stood and came to Lassiter's side, "Carlton they have that mask on you for a reason."

She tried to put the mask back over his face but Lassiter weakly pushed it away. "O'Hara I'm fine." He ordered, or at least it would have been an order, had he been able to speak louder than a whisper.

"Carlton, come on, be good." She said gently. He glared at her, he hated it when she talked to him like that. Especially since he couldn't do much to fight back. "okay fine but when you can't breathe don't look at me." Juliet was still using that annoying, motherly tone, treating him like a child.

He continued to glare at her, "I said, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? The doctor said you might still feel some pain." She told him with a worried look down at his side, "They were able to easily remove the bullet, and it didn't hit anything vital, but you lost quite a bit of blood. You're going to be pretty tired for a little while."

Tired wasn't the word for it, he was doing his best just to stay awake so he could talk to them. He felt the little girl wrap her hands around his. "Mr. Lassie, you're okay now?" he gently squeezed her small hand and let a smile cross his lips momentarily. It was all the answer she needed, Riley giggled and jumped up and down.

"Riley why don't you get Mr. Lassie a glass of water, I bet he's thirsty." Juliet asked her.

"Ok!" she yelled grabbing a cup off the bedside table. Lassiter scowled at Juliet for using the name the girl had given him. But she just bit her lip, holding back a smile. She did it on purpose. Riley carefully ran back from the sink with the water. Juliet took it from her and put a straw in it for him. Carlton was actually pretty thirsty, he reached for the cup but when Juliet let go it slipped through his fingers. He was too tired to even hold a cup of water, it was humiliating.

Juliet must have known it was going to happen because she caught it before it spilled. "It's ok Carlton, I got it." She held the straw up to his mouth. Not this again, this was the second time in just two days that he had to be fed. Later, he would blame it on the exhaustion, but he didn't even fight it this time. He greedily sipped the water down.

"Good boy Lassie." Shawn patted him gently on the head. Lassiter, slowly swatted him away. Shawn avoided his slow movements and flicked him on the nose. "Bad Lassie." He laughed.

"Shawn." Juliet warned

Lassiter was forced to just ignore the annoying psychic, since he couldn't even yell at the man. "What happened O'Hara?" he asked quietly, he had to know before sleep overtook him again.

"You don't remember?"

"I remember your voice when we were being shot at…. but everything after that is a little fuzzy."

"The doctor said you might not. Well, we found you and Riley and we tried to help you out of the woods but you collapsed from exhaustion. So then..um…" she paused and kept glancing over at Shawn.

"So then what?... what happened?" Juliet's hesitation and Shawn's annoying grin had him kind of nervous. The trip through the woods was starting to come back to him. He mostly remembered the pain, but he also remembered Shawn and Gus helping him walk. He remembered falling to the ground and Juliet yelling at him to stay awake.

He looked over at Shawn and his irritating grin, and soon it all came back to him. The memory of floating above the ground was because Shawn Spencer, idiot psychic extraordinaire, had carried him, Carlton Lassiter Head Detective of the Santa Barbara Police Department.

Lassiter let out a loud groan, wishing that he could just forget again. "I think he remembers" Shawn said still grinning.

Carlton pulled his blankets over his head, "Just leave so I can die in peace."

"Carlton quit being a baby, it's not that bad." Juliet pulled the blankets back down from his face and tucked him back in.

"What part of Spencer carrying me like some kind of…of…I don't even know what, is not a bad thing!" he winced when his outburst sent pain shooting through his side.

"Carlton calm down, you're going to hurt yourself." Too late. "and besides, Shawn saved your life, you should be thanking him."

Lassiter quickly glanced over at Shawn, he couldn't seem to bring himself to look the younger man in the eyes. He was more embarrassed than anything, but like most of his emotions, he covered it with anger. "I never asked him to help me!" He snapped, looking away from all of them.

"Carlton." The disappointment in her voice sent a pang of guilt through him. He was starting to feel like the jerk he was acting like.

"It's ok Jules." Shawn said. Lassiter quickly looked at him again and was surprised to see that the childish man actually looked genuinely….. hurt. "I wasn't really expecting anything from ol' grumpy pants here. I just-"

"Thank you." Lassiter grumbled under his breath.

Juliet and Shawn both stared in disbelief, "What?" they said in unison.

He couldn't stop his face from flushing red in embarrassment, he hated this mushy crap. " I said thank you for you know….helping me…to, um…just..you…..you know what I mean Spencer!" he winced again, crap he had to stop yelling.

"Oh Lassie, ya big softie." Shawn said, nudging him in the shoulder. "You're welcome buddy, but you owe me a new shirt." He turned around to reveal a blood stain covering the back of his annoyingly bright polo.

"In your dreams Spencer." Lassiter said with a laugh before his eyes slipped close. He couldn't hold them open any longer, he was so tired.

"That's ok, you get some sleep, we'll talk about it later." He couldn't stand the sympathy he heard in Shawn's voice. But the only response he could get out at the moment was a small grunt. He heard their footsteps leave the room before he drifted off into a blissful, painless sleep.

It had been two days since they brought Lassie to the hospital, and already he was driving the entire staff insane. Juliet had tried to warn them that he would be a difficult patient, but they assured her they were capable of handling any type. But after the third lecture of how to properly treat an officer of the law, and the fourth or fifth pudding cup being flung across the room in protest of the awful hospital food or the implication of a sponge bath, they began to heed Juliet's advice and were counting down the days to his release.

Juliet and Chief Vick visited Lassiter in the afternoon. He had already grown stronger over the short time and was able to give his statement of what had occurred over the day and a half he had gone missing. Shawn and Gus tagged along for the visit but were left to entertaining Riley while the officers did their business. They little girl still refused to leave Carlton's side until she knew that he would be okay. Her foster care worker, Mrs. Carter, was relieved that the girl was safe and allowed for her to be left in Juliet's care until she was ready.

Shawn and Gus ambled around the hospital, not really sure how to entertain a young girl in such a place. They had each gotten a bag of cookies from the cafeteria and were munching on them when they came to the gift shop. They looked through the assortment of flowers, balloons, and "get well" cards, when something caught Shawn's eye that left him with a mischievous grin.

"Mr. Lassie!" Riley yelled when they got back to the room. She ran in but paused when Juliet met her with a stern glare for having interrupted. Shawn and Gus followed in after, "Sorry Juliet, but we ran out of stuff to do." Gus apologized.

"That's not true, I suggested a spitting contest off the third floor balcony but you shot that down."Gus ignored Shawn after already having the argument as to why that was a bad idea.

"It's ok were all finished here." Vick said as she got up to leave, "With Detective Lassiter's statement we won't have any problems putting Mr. Cain away for good."

Carlton nodded, pleased with the thought. "Don't worry Chief, I'll be back in no time at all to make sure that happens. There's no way he's-"

"Detective, I do not want to see you in my station until you are completely healed. Do I make myself clear."

"But Chief, I already feel much better. I just-"

"I said. Do I make myself clear." She repeated, fixing him with a deadly gaze.

"Yes ma'am." He said quickly, a hint of fear coming through in his voice.

"Good. O'Hara I'll see you back at the station. And Carlton I'm very happy that you're feeling better but please try not to kill anyone while you here." she added before leaving the room.

"I'm not going to kill anyone; I don't even have my gun." Lassiter said defensively.

"You're right." Shawn added, placing a hand on the detective's shoulder. "It's probably more likely that somebody here would kill you. You're kind of driving everyone crazy."

Lassiter pushed Shawn away; he pretended to stumble backwards even though the shove wasn't all that forceful. Lassie was still much weaker than his normal self.

Riley had been waiting patiently at Carlton's bedside to tell him something since she first came running in. As the two argued her patience finally ran out. "Mr. Lassie look at what Mr. Shawn bought me!" she yelled, holding up her prize to be inspected by the grouchy man. Riley held in her hands a small stuffed dog, complete with pitch black fur and a small pink tongue sticking out at the detective.

Shawn smirked as Lassiter's face changed to irritation as the dog's little beaded, bright blue eyes stared into his own. "And what's his name Riley?" Shawn said trying to hold back his joy.

"I'm calling him Mr. Lassie." She answered with glee.

Shawn clapped and hopped up and down with joy as Juliet and Gus fought to bite back their own laughter.

"Spencer." Carlton said dangerously.

"Don't you like it?" the little girl asked, poking her lip out in a pout. "Mr. Shawn said you would like it. He said it looks just like you."

Lassiter turned a deadly glare onto the psychic, but Shawn never lost his smile, "Oh come on Lassie, you ruined her bear you know. I had to do something."

"Now I'll always have you with me, Mr. Lassie." Riley added, hugging the dog tightly.

"Awwwww that's so cute." Juliet covered her mouth with her hand when Lassiter turned his death gaze on her. But despite his obvious irritation, Lassiter didn't say anything about the stuffed dog, he stayed quiet as the girl lovingly held her new prized possession. It seemed that not only had the girl developed a soft spot for Lassie, but Lassie also had a soft spot for the girl.

Lassiter shifted uncomfortably in his bed and scratched at the bandages on his head, "Stop that Carlton!" Juliet yelled, slapping his hand away. Shawn laughed; he always thought it was funny to see Juliet act like a mother to the gruff detective. She was the only one that Carlton allowed to treat him that way.

"What the hell are you laughing at Spencer?" Lassie shouted, instantly grabbing his wounded side afterwards.

"Carlton what did I say about yelling." Juliet chided. Shawn laughed again.

"Spencer!" This time it wasn't Lassiter who yelled, it was Riley instead. The little girl shot the psychic her very best angry glare, rivaling the head detective's own.

"Oh my gosh!" Shawn yelled stumbling backwards in fake surprise. "Lassie what have you done! You've ruined this poor, innocent little girl, she's acting like you." Riley broke down and started giggling at his reaction, Lassiter just gave a triumphant smirk.

"Carlton are you sure your ready to go back to work?" Juliet asked again, concern in her voice. She got out of the car after having driven her partner and herself to the station.

"Yes O'Hara." He said sternly. He happily adjusted his gun holster to sit more comfortably. He still had bandages under his shirt and the holster rubbed uncomfortably over them, but Lassiter refused to take it off. "It's been almost two whole weeks, I feel great. So quit asking."

"I know it's been two weeks but you checked out of the hospital AMA, and you haven't been resting like you should have." She pointed an accusing finger at him. He hated how much she worried over him. Juliet had been to his house every day of his leave to check on him, and every day she would fuss over him, making sure he was taken care of properly.

"The doctors didn't have any problems with me leaving…"

"That's because they couldn't wait to get rid of you." She mumbled under her breath.

Carlton pretended he didn't hear her, "and I got plenty of rest."

"And since when does going to the shooting range constitute as rest." She stood in front of him and placed her hands on her hips, doing her best to intimidate him, and partly succeeding.

"I….It was just a couple times." He was pretty sure she rolled her eyes behind her dark sunglasses. "And besides I'm stuck on desk duty for a couple more weeks anyway." He pushed past her and headed for the station.

Juliet finally admitted defeat and followed her stubborn partner. Lassiter made it to the steps but paused before he ascended them, he let out a deep sigh. Juliet looked at him with a question on her face "what's wrong?" He avoided her eyes and stared at the building. He had been looking forward to going back to work, he loved his job, but he had been dreading facing everyone again. He remembered how Spencer had carried him piggy back to the ambulance, in front of half the department. He was surely going to be the mockery of the police force.

Juliet watched him for a moment before she realized what his hesitation was about. "Carlton." She said with a sigh, "you don't have anything to be embarrassed about everyone is really proud of everything you did."

"I don't care!" he snapped, but still didn't move. Juliet took off her sunglasses and placed a hand on his shoulder before she walked up the steps. For some reason it actually made him feel better, he followed her up the steps.

Lassiter took a deep breath before he entered. When he walked into the station, instead of the stares, laughing, and whispering he was expecting, he was met with applause from his colleagues that had gathered in the bullpen to meet him. As he walked to his desk several of them patted him on the back and offered congratulations for a job well done. McNabb was waiting for him at the desk with a bright smile and a cup of coffee in hand. "Your coffee sir, three creams, four sugars just like you like it." He said all too cheerfully.

Lassiter happily took the prized drink. "McNabb." Was all he said before taking a sip. The young officer didn't move, he just stood there, smiling down at Carlton. "Is there something else?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

"Oh, no sir. Just happy your back." Buzz answered. For a second, Lassiter was afraid the big guy was going to hug him, but instead he gave one last blinding smile and walked away.

Lassiter sat down at his desk, Juliet smirked at him. "I told you so." she gloated before walking away. He did his best to ignore her, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

"Big dog in the house!" soon came a loud, annoying voice. "Lassiiiiie welcome back." Shawn said arriving at his desk with Gus trailing behind him. "I missed you buddy, no one is as fun to annoy as you are."

"Go away Spencer." Carlton said dismissively.

"Well that's not very nice, I just said I missed you."

"I don't care, I don't have time for you today." His anger was rising with the arrival of the psychic.

"Really? I would think that you would have lots of time. Since you'll be chained to your desk for the next couple weeks and all." Shawn finished with a taunting smile.

"Spencer!" Lassiter yelled, he quickly stood from his desk. The sudden movement made his breath hitch in his throat; his wound was still healing and was still very sensitive. He leaned on his desk trying to regain his composure. Juliet noticed and came running to his aid. "I'm fine." He grumbled before she could say anything.

Lassiter was just about to give Spencer a much needed lecture when another voice rang out through the station. "Mr. Lassiiiiie." Riley seemed to appear out of nowhere, she ran to Carlton and wrapped herself around his long legs. The little stuffed dog dangled from her hands.

Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Fuller finally caught up to the little girl. "I'm sorry detective but she demanded to come see you." The foster care worker said.

"It's ok." He mumbled as he tried to pry the girl from his legs.

"What are you three doing together?" Juliet asked.

Mrs. Fuller smiled, "That's the other thing we came here for, we wanted to tell you the good news. I've decided to continue with the adoption, it's…. it's what my husband would have wanted."

Juliet gave Mrs. Fuller a hug, "Oh that's wonderful news!"

"Yes it is, Riley and I have really hit it off, haven't we?" the little girl smiled and nodded quickly in response, "and I promise you I'm going to be much more careful, I learned my lesson from Jared."

Lassiter nodded in approval of the woman's words, Mrs. Fuller directed her attention to him. "Detective Lassiter I want to thank you for bringing in my husband's killer and for bringing Riley back safely." She held out her hand to him.

Carlton straightened up and shook her hand, "Just doing my job ma'am." He said with pride.

"Of course he was." Shawn interrupted, slapping Lassiter on the back. "That's our Lassi-frass, super cop numero uno."

Riley tugged on Carlton's jacket and motioned for him to come down to her. Slowly, he crouched down to her eye level, "Mr. Lassie, I can come visit you again, right?"

Lassiter fidgeted, aware that everyone was watching. "Of course you can." He said quietly. Riley let out a yell of joy and wrapped her arms around the detective's neck. And for some reason Lassiter didn't care anymore that everyone's eyes were on him, he just wrapped his arms around the small girl and hugged her back.

**End**


End file.
